Hunter S. Thompson famously quipped: "In a closed society where…
lottery
As of this writing, the MegaMillions jackpot sits at over half a billion dollars — the biggest lottery jackpot, ever. The chances of winning it are something like 1 in 170 million. Those are the same chances you have of being randomly singled out from roughly half the population of the United States. (Maybe I shouldn’t have said that so close to April 15.) Winning means you’d instantly be richer than Mitt Romney.
Residents of certain states are statistically even less likely to win based on historical payouts. California is one of those states, and California is where I live. Statistically speaking, I have the same chance of winning by not playing as I do by playing. Think on that for a moment.
In the meantime, I’ve laid a bet that I’ve got a much, much greater chance of winning. I’d probably put my chances at something around 1 in 300. That puts me firmly in “dark horse” territory. Not bad. But if the oddsmakers who determine such things ever figure out that I may not deserve to win, I’m sunk.
Strange game.
