I hope it is someone young like me.

What a gift from Santa, bet no one else had a Christmas Gift that big.Congrat!!!! to the lucky winner.

Congrats to them, wonder if it was a stocking stuffer. I only put $1 into this drawing, gonna use my normal PB budget towards MegaMillions.

  So the odds are really 1 in 195,249,054?  No wonder there isn't a Nobel prize for mathematicians, hehe.  Happy holidays to the winner and all LP guys, wish you good luck.

wow, how cool is that to win on Christmas. congrats to the winners.

So happy for them. Its a blessing I love to hear about people winning I know one day soon it will be me.

And it WASN'T some one from NY City!!! YEA!!!!

Wow and I just checked the website turns out the Jackpot winner used the quick pick option to let the computer select the number for them.Congrads to whoever it was on the big win.

I played quick pick last night too with powerplay and it didnt match a  single number for me.

My #'s were 19,  22,  35,  53,  55,  and powerball 07

Genome, why do you hope the person is someone young like you?  If you are young and in excellent health, you have plenty of time to make your financial mark in life -- and that is called -- patience. Perhaps, I can understand someone who is older: they have paid their dues, working, and their longevity may or may not be as long as yours.

Often, I read comments from some of the young posters over the years, expressing their disdain if someone older wins: it is as if the young posters deserve winning more than the older ones.  Of course, everyone deserves to win, but age has absolutely nothing to do with winning.

Finally, young posters, be glad you are young and playing the lottery as you may never know when your ship may come in.

Yeah you're right it does seem more fair for someone older to win PB or MM. Seeing someone around my age just gives me hope that I could win a jackpot pretty soon.

Also just by the law of averages it's bound to happen much more often. I'm mid-20s myself and there's not really anyone else I know that plays the lottery. One of my friends will pick one or two up every now and then (and usually only if he's with me when I'm buying mine) but other than that there's nobody else.

I like seeing young (20s-30s) people win just because it's something different and not just "well we like our life now so we're just going to pay off everything and put the rest in the bank". And that's not saying they should blow everything, just that it'd be nice to hear they were going to go and live it up for a few days to really celebrate. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for anyone that wins (and I hope I can be apart of that special group one day) but I like hearing more about younger people winning than the older crowd.

I wonder if this winner had written a convincing letter to Santa Claus.

Does anyone know the rationale that lotteries use to justify only paying out approximately one half of jackpot amounts when the winner chooses a lump sum?  In terms of the effects of compound interest on the present and future value of the winnings, it seems to me they have it backwards.

Since lottery tickets are only sold for cash, on the day of any given drawing, the full amount of the sale proceeeds should be on deposit in the respective state's bank.  Initially, approximately 1/2 is held back as the state's cut to fund their various projects.  I understand this.  What I don't understand is what logic supports holding back 1/2 of what's left when the winner chooses the cash option.  It would make more sense to me if cash option winners received the full (1/2) of sales and annuity winners received an even larger amount over the years to reflect the INTEREST the state earns by holding the [declining] principal over those years.

Thoughts?

--Jimmy4164

P.S.  A cynical answer might just be that they do it this way BECAUSE THEY CAN, but I've already thought of that one!

"It would make more sense to me if cash option winners received the full (1/2) of sales and annuity winners received an even larger amount"

Isn't that how it is though? If you choose annuity you get an even larger amount than the people who chose lump sum (who do get the full amount of the money). I don't know, that's the way I see it.