I've spent time fantasizing about what it must be like to win, the things I could buy, the things I could pay off! It is rather unreal to think about. For fun, I looked at the lotto odds just for kicks. I did what I all the time do, switch over to Firefox, pop open a new tab and Google it. The first ensue was the one I wanted 'Game Descriptions & Odds' from the Ca lottery. This would be straight from the source.
The first prize is the Mega Millions game. The odds of winning the top prize, All 5 of 5 and Mega is 1 in 175,711,536! That's not so great. Of policy there are other levels to win at, the next one, matching 5 of 5, is 1 in 3,904,701. That's way better, but still one in about 4 million!
SuperLotto Plus top prize is 1 in 41,416,353 for all 5 of 5 plus Mega. At this point, I'm only seeing large numbers and mental the odds are too high. The fantasy is strong though, so I think how else can I take a shot at a big win with better odds. I know the answer. Unlike the lotto, I want to play something where there are all the time winners - a raffle! Every time a estimate is picked, it's a estimate that someone bought. Every mark has a pair. There's no chance of picking a mark that belongs to nobody and just saying 'well, I guess we'll keep the money!' That's Lotto. The big jackpots happen when no one wins for a while. Raffles - someone wins every time.
I searched colse to and found that the best raffles have odds with several fewer digits (Like 1 in 20 thousand instead of Million!) and many have piles of other prizes also. Because the prizes are normally donated by businesses that like to promote their premium products, the prizes are good and there are a lot of them. The raffle sponsors like to have a lot of prizes-this way, in expanding to the attraction that the grand prize offers, there is also a good chance of winning a smaller prize (though still significantly greater than the raffle mark price.)
And the real kicker - raffles in many states, together with California, can only be sponsored by a non-profit. Non-profit organizations do a lot of good things in their society and supply a lot of the imperceptible glue that keeps things together (in my opinion); so someone else part of a raffle for you personally is how well their work makes sense to you as a priority.
So, what do you go for? Prizes with cash equivalents - winning a big house is amazing when you want a big house and can handle it, winning cash is what I prefer. Good odds, both for the grand prize and for other prizes. Good cause. It's a lot easier to write a check to a group that I know is doing great things. Buy a lotto mark and you're entrusting the state bureaucracy to handle your money for you. This reminds me of tax! A lean-running non-profit is much better to my way of thinking.
If you're going for a 'personal bailout' or just for fun, go for good odds, good options, and a good cause. That's my take!
