{"485361":{"#nid":"485361","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Astronomical Odds","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELottery officials have announced the Powerball jackpot has reached a record-smashing $1.5 billion. That has sent fortune-seeking Americans to gas stations and grocery stores in droves to try their luck. Unfortunately, the odds aren\u2019t ever in your favor.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Powerball lottery is hitting a record jackpot of $1.5 billion, but the odds are stacked against you.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Lew Lefton from \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s School of Mathematics\u003C\/a\u003E crunches numbers like these for a living. Saying that your chances are slim to none is a complete understatement.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere are 292 million possible winning combinations,\u201d Lefton says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat means you have a 1 in 292 million chance of winning. So just how unlikely is that?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EImagine you walked into Georgia Tech\u2019s Bobby Dodd Stadium and placed a penny on the field somewhere. Then, you asked a friend to put on a blindfold and walk into the stadium with a penny as well. If they placed the penny in the exact same location, that would be 15 times more likely to happen than winning the Powerball jackpot.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EImagine rolling ten dice all at the same time. If all ten landed on the same number the very first time you tried, that\u2019s still five times more likely than winning the $1.5 billion dollar jackpot.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDice aren\u2019t your thing? You\u2019re 500 times more likely to get a royal flush in the first five cards you are dealt than taking home the big prize.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere isn\u2019t a way to improve your odds,\u201d Lefton explains.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo forget what you might have heard. But you can increase the chances of winning the jackpot all by yourself.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPlay numbers higher than 31,\u201d Lefton says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMany people play birthday numbers, so choosing higher, less-popular numbers decreases the chances of sharing the pot.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlso, people statistically choose odd numbers more often. Choosing high, even numbers is your best bet, according to Lefton.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELefton says very few mathematicians like himself spring for tickets because they are the first to know the odds are so astronomically against them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESpeaking of odds, take this into consideration when March Madness rolls around: You\u2019re 100 times more likely to win the Powerball twice in a row than you are to select a perfect NCAA basketball bracket. The chances of a flawless bracket? 1 in 9.2 quintillion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"A Georgia Tech mathematician calculates the real chances of winning Powerball\u0027s largest jackpot"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAn eye-opening look at just how unlikely it is that you would win the Powerball lottery\u0027s $1.5 billion jackpot.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A Georgia Tech mathematician calculates the odds of winning Powerball\u0027s largest jackpot ever."}],"uid":"28058","created_gmt":"2016-01-12 19:45:56","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:04","author":"Steven Norris","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-01-12T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2016-01-12T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"485371":{"id":"485371","type":"image","title":"Dr. Lew Lefton","body":null,"created":"1452898800","gmt_created":"2016-01-15 23:00:00","changed":"1475895034","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:34","alt":"Dr. Lew Lefton","file":{"fid":"203986","name":"lew_headshot_lg.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lew_headshot_lg_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lew_headshot_lg_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":706703,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/lew_headshot_lg_0.jpg?itok=LjIbss2g"}},"485381":{"id":"485381","type":"image","title":"Your Chances of Winning the Powerball Jackpot","body":null,"created":"1452898800","gmt_created":"2016-01-15 23:00:00","changed":"1475895089","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:29","alt":"Your Chances of Winning the Powerball Jackpot","file":{"fid":"203988","name":"istock_000021149055_medium.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/istock_000021149055_medium_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/istock_000021149055_medium_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1654033,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/istock_000021149055_medium_0.jpg?itok=2jWFf0hA"}}},"media_ids":["485371","485381"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"171358","name":"chances"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"171359","name":"how to win the lottery"},{"id":"171360","name":"jackpot"},{"id":"169090","name":"lottery"},{"id":"171361","name":"lottery chances"},{"id":"171362","name":"lottery odds"},{"id":"171363","name":"lotto"},{"id":"256","name":"math"},{"id":"2748","name":"mathematics"},{"id":"171364","name":"odds"},{"id":"169091","name":"powerball"},{"id":"171365","name":"powerball lottery"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"},{"id":"71901","name":"Society and Culture"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESteven Norris\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Social Media Manager\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["snorris@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}