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0in;background:white;vertical-align:baseline”>Like a few million other Americans, I bought a Powerball ticket last week. The odds of hitting the jackpot were 1 in 292 million. Statistically, there was a better chance of being eaten by a shark or being struck by lightning or even being killed on my way to buy the lottery ticket.
0in;background:white;vertical-align:baseline”>But, technically I did win. I won $4 and I only spent $2 so I still made a profit.
0in;background:white;vertical-align:baseline”>The record powerball made it up to about $1.5 billion with a cash value of over $900 million.
baseline”>The first Powerball drawing was held on April 22, 1992 and since then, states began gradually signing on to participate. Powerball is now offered in 44 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Why have so many states started participating? That’s easy: money.
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baseline”>Now, whether the winnings are taken as an annuity or just in one big lump sum, federal (and sometimes state, depending on where you are) income taxes are taken out of the winnings. So what happens to the states that sell tickets and don’t have winners? They still win. About half of ticket sales are lost in forms of smaller prizes, net profits are held by each individual lotteries and go towards the funding of projects approved by the government.
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baseline”>Around 72 cents of every dollar spent on the state lottery goes places other than education. Some goes to the winner, some goes back to the lottery itself, and the rest goes to a private conglomerate that operates other lotteries and gambling games in 50 other countries around the world.
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baseline”>Convenient store owners and other locations that sell lottery tickets only earn a tiny percentage of each sale. People who buy tickets usually end up buying things like cigarettes, snacks, and coffee while buying their ticket. The extra sales gives these locations an extra incentive thanks to the lottery.
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baseline”>In the fiscal year of 2015, the Powerball and other lotteries produced almost $75 million for Iowa’s general funds. In 2014 in California, approximately $1.3 billion was amassed for education alone.