re: How to win the lottery, according to a Romanian-born mathematician who won 14 times

Let's look at Louisiana's Easy 5.
5 numbers from 1-37

435,897 combinations

if you bought every ticket you would win the jackpot, as well as:
$16,000 matching 4
$34,671 matching 3
$48,433 matching 2
so on top of the jackpot, you win an additional $99,104


You spend $436K in tickets, jackpot needs to be at least $726K for you to make a profit as the only winner, factoring in a 40% tax rate (i'm guessing at tax rate). and that profit is just the $99,104.
If the jackpot is 3x's the combinations, then you would win $885K after taxes, then you subtract your $436K in tickets so you walk away with right at $450K.
If two people win that jackpot of $1.31M, then you win $491K after taxes, and you walk away with just $55k.
If 3 people win, you're screwed.





and the problem with all of that..... the highest the jackpot for the Easy 5 in LA in the last 10 years has been $600K.