I meant to post this earlier this month after the news of the $448 million Powerball Lottery winner from California:

There is at least one winning ticket for Saturday’s $447.8 million Powerball jackpot, and California Lottery has confirmed that it was purchased in Southern California. The ticket was sold in Sun City in Riverside County, according to the lottery. It is unclear if there are winning tickets in other states. The numbers drawn were 32, 26, 20, 38, 58. The Powerball was 3.

“We will not know who California’s latest Powerball winner is until at least Monday morning at 8 a.m. That’s the soonest they’ll be able to claim their prize,” California Lottery said in a statement. “Whoever the winner turns out to be will now have the option of taking the entire $447.8 million spread out over 30 years, or they can elect to take the lump sum amount of $279.1 million.”

As for Marietta Liquor & Deli, where the ticket was sold, “It will be receiving a huge $1 million retailer bonus just for selling the winning ticket. The retailer bonus comes from a separate fund and is not subtracted from the winner’s jackpot prize,” the statement said. Saturday’s jackpot is the 7th largest jackpot in Powerball history, according to California Lottery.

The odds of winning are only one in 292.2 million.

Hmm…the odds of winning are one in almost 300 million..well that’s a bit if a long shot. Consider that your odds of getting hit by lightning this year are about 1 in 960,000 or about 300 times more likely then winning the lottery.

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NGPF has quite a few activities designed to get your students to reflect on the opportunity cost of playing the lottery on a regular basis:

• Interactive: What Are Your Odds of Winning the Lottery? 
• Lesson: Playing the Lottery
• Activity: Calculate: Play the Lottery or Save? 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.