Sitting Out the $1.7 Billion Powerball? Let These Stats Comfort You

The Powerball jackpot has reached $1.7 billion. You likely won’t win.

Powerball is a multistate lottery in which players pay $2 to pick five numbers from 1 to 69 and a separate red Powerball from 1 to 26. Drawings are held twice a week, and the jackpot is won only by matching all six numbers. If no one wins, the prize rolls over and grows.

Not including a hefty sum of taxes, the winner can choose between a lump sum payment or an annuitized prize paid over 30 years.

The odds of winning the Grand Prize are about one in 292,201,338, per Powerball. An entrant would need to pull the exact right ticket — and that’s if the winning ticket is even sold.

So, for all you lottery skeptics sitting this round out, here are some statistics to provide you solace.

Instead of winning the $1.7 billion, you would have better odds to:

Even if one does win the Powerball, there is no guarantee that their life will improve in the long run, depending on how they deal with their sudden and enormous wealth.

But for those lottery lovers out there, don’t worry: You’re probably more likely to win than a monkey is to type up “Hamlet.”