Investment Opportunity

The Mega Millions jackpot is at the highest it has ever been. It has reached $500 million dollars. Let's look at this from an analytical standpoint. The jackpot is available two ways, in payments over 26 years or as a single lump sum. If you choose the lump sum option, the jackpot is lowered to $359 million. The odds are 176 million to 1, and each ticket costs $1. Therefore, if you have the money, you could buy a ticket for every possible outcome, and still come out ahead. Even after taxes, the $500 million jackpot over 26 years would settle out at approximately $250-300 million. So your $176 million investment earned you 42% interest over 26 years, on the low end. That is not factoring in the interest rate you could get at a bank off-shore annually. The lump sum option however, would return approximately $175-200 million after taxes; not worth the money that you are putting up. I've got $75. Who wants to throw in the other $175,999,925?