I used to criticize my dad for buying loads of lottery tickets. As a statistician, I know that the odds of winning are practically zero. But here I am, buying lots of lottery tickets over the last few weeks as the Mega Millions jackpot rises up to stupid levels. The only time I bother to buy a ticket is when the jackpot is so high that it makes the news - and it is definitely in the headlines right now. The next drawing is on Tuesday (they're not stupid, doing 2 drawings a week rather than just the 1 - and at $2 a ticket rather than just $1, with the option of paying extra for a multiplier) and the estimated jackpot is $1.55 billion. It's inching closer and closer to that all-time largest ever jackpot (which I believe is over $2 billion). What is misleading to me is that I always think that a billion should be a million x million. But it isn't, it's only a thousand million. Of course, I use the word "only" very loosely there. Despite having no chance of winning (I don't think I've even matched one number over the last few weeks), I'm sure I'll end up buying some tickets before Tuesday's drawing. And not winning.
No comments:
Post a Comment