The Powerball. A tax on people who are bad at math.
Your odds are 1 in 175 million, but if you want to win for sure, all you have to do is buy every single combination of numbers...175 million tickets. Right?
Now...there are some problems. You'll need 350 Million in cash. But...on tonights drawing, you'd make that back!
Then, you'll need to individually fill out all those slips, because you'd need to buy them all individually to get every combination possible.
But still....if you want to win, that's the only true way to go. Since that's not likely, here are some other helpful tips if you're still going out to get your tickets tonight:
The only way to increase your chance of winning? You gotta buy more tickets.
The catch? The more tickets you buy, the worse your chances get.
Forget lucky numbers. 3, 7, 11 and numbers under 31 are popular choices because they coincide with dates like birthdays and anniversaries.
Sometimes bigger jackpots aren't better - look for smaller ones that cause less of a frenzy.
Quick picks and personal numbers have the same chances of winning - one in 175 million.
If you do WIN, MarketWatch has some advice:
Take the lump sum, which currently would be about $327 million.
That's not typically the suggested path, but the threat of the fiscal cliff—and expiring tax breaks—makes things different this year.
In the long run, the lump sum "could save you millions in taxes."
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