WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH $900 MILLION?

Yesterday, I left for home --

 my workplace was sane, routine, and hectic as blood centers always get.

Today, I show up for work 

with my co-workers glassy-eyed, pooling their money to buy as many Powerball tickets as they can purchase.

$700 MILLION they cried!

Ah, not really.  

The prize would have a cash option of $558 million, and that's before taxes are deducted. 

The $900 million prize is based on an annuity, which would pay out the money over 29 years.

THE ODDS SUCK!

 The odds are one in 292.2 million,

 which means you're really, really, really unlikely to win. 

The odds used to be one in 175 million,
but Powerball made it harder to increase the jackpots.

By comparison, your chance of being struck by lightning in a year is about one in 960,000. 

But as lottery officials often note, you have no chance of winning if you don't buy a ticket.

 GET IT IN WRITING!

Some players feel they increase their odds of winning by 

pooling their money with co-workers, with a promise to split the winnings. 

Joining with colleagues and friends can increase the fun of playing, 

but the odds of winning are so tiny that adding 50 or 100 chances doesn't matter much. 

Lottery officials recommend that if people pool their money,

 they put down rules in writing for splitting the prize, 

as it's easy for misunderstandings to crop up when hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH 

278 MILLION? 

 (THE PRIZE AFTER TAXES) 

Oh, I put in my $2, too,

for the work pool!

A small price to daydream, right?

:-)