And Here We Go Again—Whee!
By Jim Bauer
@porwest (90864)
United States
March 23, 2024 7:02am CST
I had a feeling it was going to happen. The MegaMillions for yesterday's drawing on March 22nd was for $977 million, and nobody matched the five winning numbers and one MegaBall number to win it.
The jackpot has now reached $1.1 billion for the Tuesday, March 26th drawing.
If you took the cash option, the winner would receive roughly $315.4 million depending on which state they live in after taxes. Even though it is a fraction of the total prize, that's still an enormous amount of money without a doubt, and the cash option would be the choice I would make if I were to win.
Most likely what I would do is hold onto $10 million and just do what I want with it—but I'd still be rather frugal of course. The remaining $305.4 million would be invested.
Even with a rather very conservative 6% average return on that, I could expect $18.3 million a year in dividends and interest from that.
Of course, the odds of winning are infinitesimally small, but I will sill buy a few tickets nonetheless because of course, you can't win at all if you don't play, and a mere $2 to spend for at least a chance, to me, is absolutely worth it.
What would you do if you won, and will you be playing the MegaMillions?
12 people like this
11 responses
@moffittjc (121582)
• Gainesville, Florida
23 Mar
I didn't realize nobody had won the jackpot, so I didn't even think about buying tickets. But then again, I was on vacation in Seattle, so I didn't even give it any thought. When's the next drawing? I think I'll buy a couple of tickets.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (121582)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Mar
@porwest I’m a little behind on my notifications. It’s now Thursday, 3/28. Has there been a winner yet?
@porwest (90864)
• United States
23 Mar
Hell, you could own the entire apartment building and hire a crew of people to take care of everything and not even make a dent in your loot. It's $2. The way I see it, I'd be a fool not to buy at least one ticket. But that's just me.
Somebody HAS to win, and of course, the only people who have a chance are those who wagered something to have it.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (471500)
• Switzerland
23 Mar
Well, I know I will never win because I do not play!
What would I do should I win all that money? Good question. I would buy the two houses close to our home to be sure never to have annoying neighbors. I would invest most of the money and continue my life exactly as it is now.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (471500)
• Switzerland
24 Mar
@porwest - I play time by time at our local lottery. There is a nice one here called "EuroDreams", if you guess the 6 numbers right, you receive the amount of $ 22,222 each month during 30 years. It would be a very good annuity that would last until the end of my days.
@porwest (90864)
• United States
24 Mar
Part of it is, when you take the cash amount, it's what the actual prize is worth. The prize amounts are based on what the value of an annuity would be. One CAN take the annuity and get the full amount over 30 years, minus about 40%-50% in taxes. But most people take the cash option. In this case the actual amount in the prize pool is $525.8 million.
What they do is, if someone decides to take the annuity option over 30 years, it is invested in a specific way and over the 30 years the $525.8 million becomes $1.1 billion as it matures.
If someone took the annuity, they'd receive roughly $22 million per year after taxes.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (44524)
• Staten Island, New York
23 Mar
If you choose to get monthly payments rather than a lump sum do you get more money in the end?
I rarely play since when I do I never win big and usually never anything to shout about.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (44524)
• Staten Island, New York
26 Mar
@porwest so you pay more taxes if you take it all in one shot?
1 person likes this
@porwest (90864)
• United States
31 Mar
@lovebuglena No. The same. The amounts are just different depending on the option you choose. But the tax rate is the same.
1 person likes this
@porwest (90864)
• United States
24 Mar
Not necessarily. Granted, either way it depends on what someone does with the money once they get it. I look at this this way.
If I took the annuity over 30 years, I would collect roughly $22 million a year after taxes for a total collection of $660 million.
If I take the cash option, I receive $315.4 million up front after taxes. IF I invested all of it at a rate of 6%, which is conservative, I would earn $18.9 million per year. Assuming I never spent the principal and only spent from the interest earned, at the end of 30 years I'd have collected a total of $882.4 million, which is considerably more than the annuity total collection amount.
1 person likes this
@Beestring (14554)
• Hong Kong
23 Mar
That's a lot of money. If I win, I'll buy a larger apartment, place some money in banks as fixed deposits, make some investments and donate some to charity.
1 person likes this
@wmaths (563)
• Italy
23 Mar
MegaMillions jackpot is really amazing, isn't it? It's crazy to think about the kind of opportunities that kind of money could open up for someone. Keeping $10 million for yourself and then investing the rest wisely is a smart move, designing a steady income. You're absolutely right about the odds: they're incredibly slim, but someone has to win eventually, right? I admire your optimistic outlook on this. Also, like you said, you can't win if you don't play. As far as I'm concerned, winning the lottery would definitely change my life. I would probably follow a similar path to yours: take care of my immediate needs, set some aside for fun and enjoyment, and then focus on ensuring long-term financial stability. Anyway, good luck!
@sweetloveforeve (13120)
• Portugal
2 Apr
I would do the same. I would keep 10 million and would let in the bank the rest of the money. I agree with you, 2 dollars is worth a try at least 
I hope you have the luck to win the megamillions soon I live in Portugal and here what we have is Euromilhões that is a jackpot where the price is 2.50 euros and you can win in the minimum 17 million but if no one win it, it grows up until 130 million maximum I think.
In this game you need to guess 5 numbers and 2 starts. the 5 numbers are from number 1 until 50 and the stars are from number 1 to 12.
It is a lot of numbers to guess 
so its really difficult to win it but with luck we never know
I hope you have the luck to win the megamillions soon I live in Portugal and here what we have is Euromilhões that is a jackpot where the price is 2.50 euros and you can win in the minimum 17 million but if no one win it, it grows up until 130 million maximum I think.
In this game you need to guess 5 numbers and 2 starts. the 5 numbers are from number 1 until 50 and the stars are from number 1 to 12.
It is a lot of numbers to guess so its really difficult to win it but with luck we never know 
@LindaOHio (178568)
• United States
24 Mar
I won't be playing; but if I did win, there are several projects around the house that would get done. Then I would donate obscene amounts to my favorite charities, including our local Humane Society and Dog Shelter. It's really too late to move to the Florida Keys. I would rather keep hubby close to good rated hospitals. I would also pay off the mortgage for hubby's cousin for all the help she's given us. Have a great week.
@2ndchances24 (8929)
• Cloverdale, Indiana
23 Mar
I would LOVE to get that kind of money cause EVEN though we have
invested in remodeling this place like we have & spent the $ we have on it
we'd SURELY find us a better place to live away from every1 & be happy.
BUT on the other hand I'm not that lucky in getting that kind of $ no matter
what I do or how I do it so no matter what you might think or say about it
I'm not going to waste my $ or time to chase something I can't get a hold of.
@grenery8 (10665)
• Zagreb, Croatia (Hrvatska)
23 Mar
do you play lottery often? i don't much so not sure if i will get something one day but when i played, i received nothing. if i got evena bot from this money, i would buy a small house and would gladly pay bills for each month, which i do now but would feel happier. and, of course, buying things for my mum and sister.
