You got your ticket and been daydreaming: “What’ll I do with a billion bucks?” Sure, it’s more likely you’ll be hit by lightning. Don’t know anyone who’s spent $2 for a chance to be hit by lightning, but whatevs. The point is, you know you won’t win the jackpot.
You should be ready for who MIGHT win.
You should be ready if it’s only one winner, and she’s 97 and from Kansas and has no kids and will give 85% of the dough to her church. Be ready if it’s one winner and he’s a stockbroker who already has a few million. Be ready if the winner is already rich AND famous, like Oprah. Or Floyd Mayweather, or Sean Hannity, or Michael Moore. Or “Hollywood” Henderson, a former Dallas Cowboy who won $28 million. That’s right, a former Cowboy won a lottery.
That's a good one too: be ready if the winner turns out to have already won a million in a lottery. Be ready if it’s Miley Cyrus, Weird Al Yankovich, Chelsea Clinton, or Puck from the Real World.
Be ready for even worse news. A group ticket from different branch of the company you work for. Or your boss. Or that temp with the big boobs all the men at your office fawn over. Or your jailbird uncle. Your junkie cousin. Your ex. Your other ex. Your ex’s ex, who says he will share some of the money with her (but you KNOW she will not share shit with you).
This isn’t a fantasy. These are possibilities. All those people will have bought tickets too! So just be ready in case something really crappy happens!
--- PS If you haven’t bought a ticket, why not? “It’s like pissing the money away.” Oh really? You have the same infinitesimal chance to instantly become a billionaire every other day of your life. But today’s the day you can’t be bothered to spend $2 to up the odds a tiny bit?
In poker, we call this statistical puzzle “pot odds.” If I was facing a $2 bet into a pot of $1.5 billion, IT WOULD NOT MATTER WHAT MY HAND WAS. The probability math says "call every time," and I would. I need only win such a hand once out of 749,999,999 tries to come out ahead in the end.
It’s fold and win nothing; or call $2 for a tiny chance to win $1,500,000,002. Only an idiot would fold to a $2 bet there. You still have time to get a ticket. Don’t be that idiot.