We might buy 1 line if it reaches 1 Billion Dollars.

should be a most curious Saturday night

ROCK'N ROLL! HERE WE GO!

I hope it's birthday numbers that get drawn and a sizable crowd walks away very happy. On that thought I'll get me another ticket with low numbers

I'm so dizzy- my head is spinning..

I like to point out something this jackpot shows very clearly about the jackpot anniuty option.
#5 $258.2 million cash, Aug. 7, 2013 ($448.4 million annuity) -
#6 $256.8 million cash, Feb. 7, 2015 ($380 million annuity)

It's within 2 million dollars of #5 jackpot 258.2 million cash jackpot , Yet the annuity is 380m current vs 448m in 2013, only 2 years ago!

This is power of 30 year interest rates have on all lottery jackpots! 60+ million dollars less today, thanks to interest rates!

The Lottery buys special Treasury securities that are very much linked to 30 year rate for normal t-bills, as 30 year notes go down, so does annuity securities lottery buys on your behalf.

At the moment our 30-Year treasury bond is one of the worst possible investments in the entire world.

Sense your also dealing with the Inflation over decades. It will eat your low 2% yield alive, significant losses of purchasing power over time.

however don't take my word for it, if any of you do win(good luck), go to largest investment firms like:

Goldman Sachs.
Morgan Stanley.
JPMorgan Chase.
Merrill Lynch.
They ALL tell you they can all earn way more then treasury yield , take the cash!

Even with there high management fees ( I would not use them firms my self, but they manage billions and i don't so there there people to ask over some guy on web)

didn't a couple of those investment firms get hacked this year or the previous year ??

Hopefully it rolls a couple more times otherwise let there be one jackpot winner

Well now - it probably was my purchasing a 2nd ticket that pushed the annuity up 20M$.  ...  and you are all welcome!

$380 million sounds good to me 

This could trigger a buying frenzy.  I'll have to watch the news to see if players start standing in lines to buy a few extra tickets.

Keep Rolling $480,000,000.00 sounds really good........

I'm mostly interested in having ten or more people, win the 2nd prize every draw. We have to be getting some of that money back from the lottery, one way or another. The jackpot can roll, ad infinitum for all I care.

someones going to win saturday(:

The annuity value jumped up $20 million yet the cash value only went up $6.3 million. No matter what I'll take it. Now if someone from the forum can be so lucky this Saturday! Sweet dreams everyone and don't forget to buy your ticket....I will be getting mine tomorrow??

I hope so! Good luck to you Hearsetrax!

If you do win this one make sure to take the cash option and don't go handing out the winnings to every person you meet on your street. You can easily beat the annuity rate by investing the money yourself.

I'm in for one row this weekend.

Powerball!

I agree! cash is king.

That just shows you how much is needed to break even when the jackpot resets to $40M, $12.6M cash should cover it.

Oh yes, Jackpot fever has returned!!

I'm getting it!!!!

Why not invest in Lehmann Brothers?

Oh...yeah...

The US Treasury had to bail out Merrill Lynch, among other amazing firms.

$380 million Woo Hoo!!

well...let's seeeeeeee....takin' the cash and running fast.... so that is 256 minus 40% for Uncle Sam...leaves me roughly 153 Million and change(no state income tax here).. Have a new home(s), cars, toys,gifts to various family members, donations to non profits,buy the track(sp?) chairs for as many disabled vets as I could,should leave me with 50-60 Mil. ...spend 500K a year over the remainder of my estimated  existence....should leave the offspring with 30-40 Million ....Wouldn't have to invest a dime !!!....Course, I would always invest...maybe with Edward Jones...They handle a friend's family estate that's worth 50+million and they are very happy with their results.......Just a nice thought for tonight's drawing....

Sure. Why not? You can be part of the too-big-to-fail club. 

Sounds like a plan! I've got one similar. :)

I'm headed out on a country drive to spend the day with parents, and planning on stopping at several small town gas & goes to pick up one ticket each.

Got my ticket for tonight's game. Not hoping for a roll over but for multiple winners.

I hope the winners will be given the right to anonymity. It would be very dangerous for winners of such a large amount to be identified.

just quit playing altogether if your that worried

. We read the same rant and rhetoric every time the jackpot grows this large. Interestingly enough, these are some of the same posters who have so much commentary when the winner is identified. They get all excited about what the winner will or will not do. So, take that away and I suspect LP will birth more home-grown conspiracy theorists. The ones who plan to win and take sensible steps in managing their win-fall rarely end up dead. Focus on winning the darn thing. That's hard enough if not impossible. Whinging about taxes and media frenzy is something out of our control. Again, it is the media that helps these jackpots grow so large. Give them a one word interview in your spider man mask if you ever hit it big.

People say; lottery is a foolish dream, but hey it might happen!

"Whinging about taxes and media frenzy is something out of our control."

How is it out of our control? Other countries allow winners to collect their prize anonymously and other countries don't collect tax on lottery winnings, so why not here in the US? If enough people care about being anonymous and not having to pay tax on the lottery we might be able to change things.

Good luck to all!

IDK  if they take city tax to but never mind that at take home after all taxes take home for me between $139,904,640(39.6+5.92) or $134,126,640(39.6+5.92+2.25).

That is enough for me to buy my 3.5mill ohio home, 2.5mill florida home, 1.8 prevost rv, my 3 lamborghini, my 2 rolls royce, couple of escalades, a few bentley , a maybach 62s , and if i had that much def a bugatti super sport, then of course a home for mom and sis and whatever car they want, a few good hand outs for friends and family( your a fool if u think your money back just give to people and tell them to enjoy and you dont want it back(less headace and pressure)). and that would be 24 mill to myself( extra would be food and travel money) 5-6 mill for family and friends. And a few million in bank for son. so with that i STILL have over 90 million to still play with and i have all my toys cars and homes paid for in cash. 

And anyone on here talking bout they would change or anthing like that ur lying to yourself. dream big and have fun and think they took $116,895,360 to $122,673,360. i say spend what u have fun and take cash option*

one winner one winner one winner (even if its not me)

Let me know how that works out for ya. 

While you recruit posters for the march to Washington, I will be tweaking my system.

Fair enough. Far be it from me to mess with a tweaker. 

And if im not mistaking but 50% of money goes to jackpot and the other 50% goes to education, funding lottery and of course taxes. my question is why they dont just put a sales tax on the ticket when you buy it. so here in ohio. it will be 7% so ticket would be $2.14 to purchase. and when you win any amount you wont have to be taxed because you already paid tax ;) i no wishful thinking hahahahah

I got my tickets if someone over here wins and next year we have the same tax rate the person will take home around 169 millions. You can buy a lot of pina coladas with that.

The ODDS make people say it's foolish, but win the thing?  And, suddenly some 'fool' becomes pretty smart (or lucky in the eyes of those who say it's a dream).  This much money better make you smarter, because everyone will want part of your dream.  One thing is certain - without a ticket?  You have NO chance, and no matter what the odds are, if you have a ticket, you have A chance.  Forget the odds and it comes down to "ticket vs. no ticket".  And, it will happen.

 Good one!

Wow, this is definitely a surprise. I was originally only expecting $425-$450 million (the most) for Valentine's Day but it looks like it will be that much for the pre-Valentine's drawing if no winner tonight. That would be $304.1 million cash to start 

My wife tells me I'm wasting our money on buying lottery ticket, all the time. I say when I win, you be changing that tune!

"One thing is certain - without a ticket?  You have NO chance, and no matter what the odds are"

Not everyone believe that, people loitering at lottery retailer stores telling players to "remember me if you win" and others reminding relatives and co-workers to get a ticket and "remember me if you win", believe if someone they know wins they will too.

When athletes win the championship, the only thing cheerleaders get is ^%T*# 

It will most certainly hit half a billion dollars if there's no winner tonight.

I can't wait for the day to say, "One...BILLION...dollars." 

Well if it was to ever roll to a billion n kept current rate of annuity vs cash  of 67.58% cash value would $675,800,000 me likey a lot

I seriously doubt it'd ever hit the billion dollar mark ...........

but time will spin a most curious thread if it did

Just curious, how many tickets does everybody have?

Normally I just play my usual numbers I have for years but when it gets up there I tend to buy three.    That said I have my normal numbers, another set I have from a fortune cookie I use when the pot gets big and the third a quick pick from the automatic machine at my local grocery store.   

I hope it's my day.

Could you imagine the frenzy with a billion dollar jackpot (annuity)? Lines would be a mile wrapped around every lottery retailer! LP would go into overdrive. We will have to take up a collection to send Todd and his team oxygen and Starbucks gift certificates.

What would it take, about three more rollovers to hit a billion?   I assume it's going to get tonight now that it's a "public" jackpot with people buying tickets because they saw it on the news and whatnot.

I think it's going to roll over but that might be my wishful thinking. Where are the mathematicians? Has anyone done the calculations on the chances of a roll over?

We will have to take up a collection to send Todd and his team oxygen and Starbucks gift certificates.

The latest estimate gives a 72.9% chance of rollover for this specific drawing, whereas we are also entering the 90% cumulative percentile. I'm actually surprised the jackpot got a boost because normally it doesn't jump until it gets in record territory. Guess everyone has been impatient for big jackpots 

I won't be participating tonight, but if it rolls without a winner I may buy a ticket for the next draw.

 Thanks for the stats. Roll baby roll. 

I would choose to "Invest" in, 'Long-Term Capital Management'. Laugh/cry out loud!

There is no such thing as a foolish dream. It is foolish not to have a dream.

Enough Rolling already. Do you realise how disconcerted people become if it rolls into uncharted territory and they are NOT the winner/winners? Who in their right mind needs a billion Dollars to live off? A certain % of those who do win big end up losing a large portion of their jackpot if not all of it.

l would prefer this jackpot to be won by a Few people instead of One..Screw Rolling, why? .. because l am ready, you ought to be as well.