I doubt the machines would be able to print enough tickets in 3-4 days, but assuming it was possible, do you think some multibillionaire would ever buy every possible number combination to be guaranteed to win a jackpot? For Powerball, that would cost approximately $350 million, right?
When I worked at a gas station I would buy multiples of the same scratchers from the same roll which, was illegal and I usually came out on top.
risk is split pot
I think I recall someone doing this in VA some years ago with the state lottery (I guess), vague memory.
When I worked at a gas station I would buy multiples of the same scratchers from the same roll which, was illegal and I usually came out on top.
Yes, I agree. That is certainly a risk.
It's impossible to purchase all 175 million combinations.
Imagine if you could have a ticket printed every 10 seconds. That's 1.75 BILLION seconds it would take.
1.75 billion seconds is 29,166,167 minutes = 486,111 hours.
SO if you employed 10,000 who could purchase the ticket combos that would take 48 hours non-stop.
That's just to receive the printed tickets.
How long do you think that it would take 10,000 employees to type in all of the printed combos AND receive the printed tickets? It would take forever, son. Forever.
Please read my original post again.
The most popular set of numbers most often played is: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 . Thousands of tickets are bought with this combination every drawing if it comes in the payout would not cover costs of a buy every combo.
Same with combos that form a straight line on the card.
Yeah cornering the market was tried years ago I believe they won but they were at risk because the time frame did not permit them to cover all combos. I believe they contracted 7-11 to use their branches to generate the buy.
Even if you could, you'd be running the risk that someone else also picked the same winning number. Remember, you don't get the jackpot, you get a *share* of the jackpot.
I believe the odds on powerball are about 1 in 175 million. tickets are $2 a piece, which means you would have to spend $350 to buy all combinations.
Risks are
1. inability to manage to buy ever number (it would really be a huge management undertaking)
2. split pot
3. time value of money--the cash discounted value of tonights ~600 million jackpot is $376,000
4. Taxes
You would have to see truly spectacular jackpots (maybe $2 billion+) to make the risks worth it.
Voltaire (and a mathematician friend) made a killing in the French lottery, which had a flawed payout scheme.
http://www.damninteresting.com/the-enlightenment-guide-to-winning-the-lottery/
Assuming you COULD buy every number, the split pot risk is somewhat (or completely: can someone do the math?) offset by all the tickets you would have with 5 out of 6 of the winning numbers.
Since no one actually answered your question I will:
No I don't.
Not the powerball, but this has been done elsewhere. I think some wealthy investors did it a while back. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/25/us/group-invests-5-million-to-hedge-bets-in-lottery.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm