Dear plusaf: I do not consider the public schools a
"good cause". They are not part of the proper func-
tion of government (which is : to protect man from
force, including fraud, and violence, and to punish
same). Also, education teaches thought proces-
ses, and government should definitely not be
in charge of that.

Chapwood Investments. Andrew Wilkow had this gentleman on who is a financial advisor. He has good ideas for sound investment.
Remember: A trailer fire will ruin your day...

You could fit that in a big-rig (box trailer) with some room to spare. It's well under the load limit for one, even in the US.

But beware checkpoints. Lots of cops would grab that cash just because it's there.

I would bank it and let the government have their share. But then I'd move somewhere nice overseas.

You have accurately described the typical "Circle of Life..." :)
It's pretty clear that jackpots of a Billion $ or more are too big. Just like in Nevada or other casinos, the mark has to win enough to keep them coming back, and when the house takes 95-98% or whatever, you can still have fun knowing you might get 2% back once in a while.
But, much like Publisher's Clearing House "games" when the odds of hitting the Big Prize get into the one-in-a-few-hundred-billion, ya gotta realize that if every person on this planet got a Letter From PCH, there still might not be One Grand Prize Winner.
Actually, PCH should game their own system to save money. I'd love the $5,000 per week "for life," and I'm 70 y/o! Big win for them!

Actually, some years back, the idea came to me that the US could increase voter turnout phenomenally by making ever voting card a potential Lotto Winner... and pretty cheap, too! Say, $50 Million Single Top Prize and One $1 Million prize to one person in each state!
It would be fun, too, as some morons would move to small or low-population states "to improve their chances," thus lowering those states' average IQ, but it could also stop or reverse the current trend of 'everyone moving to the big cities,' too!
But I think I could promise at least one thing: voter turnout would rarely drop below about 95%!
Dictatorships would be envious!
:)))))))))))))

It used to be a dollar and a dream but now the P ball is two dollars- Inflation I guess! My wife works at a casino and we are both well aware of the nature of gambling and that the house is almost always the only winner. I don't often even buy a lottery ticket but when it gets to high numbers I usually make a donation. My grade school Principal who is now around 86 years old did the same about a year or so ago when it was up to 364 million and he won it all. The only thing that can be said is that some luck SOB will win but the down side is that many who do go directly off the deep end with new found wealth. For sure the sharks will be out once a winner is announced but also for sure their newest best friend will be every government agency known to man along with every ambulance chasing lawyer. If some dumb ass wins then we can all rest assured that kind of money won't buy either happiness or intelligence.

Hell, when the NC Lotto started, I was a regular purchaser... I figured it was one of the only ways I could VOLUNTARILY direct My Money to what I considered a 'good cause'!

Today, I think some folks are discovering that the odds of winning the PowerBall Lotto's are so low as to be counterproductive. I've heard recently that they're considering or implementing 'rules changes' as a result. D'oh!

And as math shows, too, buying one ticket improves your 'chances of winning' infinitely above your chances if you don't buy any tickets at all.

But buying the Next Ticket(s) is such a marginally small improvement in odds as to make the second ticket purchase silly... at least by that 'logic.'
Good luck to all players, including me...

Many years ago, I did the math and concluded that any Jackpot that could NET me a sum of over about $5Million would maintain my comfortable style of living Forever.
Much beyond that, and you need to move, change your name and disappear from the 'real world.' And rip your phone off the wall! :)

You only need a small pickup truck with a large fan in the back.

That church definitely makes money.

I'm no math whiz, so I'd just like to imagine the fun I'd have giving much of it away. Like in the old TV show "The Millionaire" where some guy gives a million to some person and then shows how it affects them. And by the way, there'd be no problem establishing an Objectivist colony somewhere.

You won't need a truck. With that much money you hire the work done, let them figure it out :)

Everyone here seems to be missing the point. If you win 1.5 Billion, you will be able to carry the cash in your pocket because you will be paid in Zimbabwean dollars.

Now this is exactly what I hoped to start with my comment. Thanks for playing along.

There is no lottery in Alabama to some large degree due to a powerful First Baptist Church that has caused voters to keep several dry counties dry and moonshiners in business..
I know several First Baptist Church ladies who will pile into a car and drive halfway across Alabama to reach Georgia or Florida whenever there is a bloated lottery prize to buy several tickets. This has gone on for many years and they have never scored a jackpot..
They also like to spend an occasional weekend gambling in Mississippi. Even if it means missing church.
Oh, yeah, they all smoke. Another First Baptist Church no-no.
I know what I'm talking about. One of them is my ex.
(Pssst! She can also dance in night clubs. Oh, how shocking!)

Taking Michael's numbers to be true:
33,040 pounds of $100 bills.
598 cubic feet of volume.

Calculate, hell! I'd deliver the money to you in my truck for only 10%. (See how competition in a free-market capitalist system leads to lower prices?)

"The wages of sin is death. But after they take taxes out, it's really just kind of a tired feeling."

I don't really care. I voted for the lottery in Virginia,
but I quit buying tickets after they said they were
going to give all the money to the public schools.

At 10% real inflation per year, one should spend it fast or convert to gold and silver

If taking the 'cash' option, which only fools don't, after federal taxes you'll get around 480M. So any calculations on 1.5b will be around three times too high.

In those calculations, don’t forget the government has a lien on it and will take its fair share before you are allowed to touch the cash. This means you need a smaller truck from U-Haul.

Yup, what most people don't see is all lotteries are is another tax. The government is a winner every time.

The worst part of that is he was elected twice! This means that over 50% of voters either don't give a damn about the debt or are too stupid to care. Reminds me of a quote by Jack Nicholson, "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"