Even though the odds of winning the lottery are one in 292 million, countless people still buy into it hoping to win big. The allure of a huge windfall of money falling into your lap, just for spending a few dollars on a ticket, is just too much to resist.

People are optimists; they think they have a chance, that perhaps they’re lucky, or this is “their” year. What they don’t realize is that when it comes to the lottery, the odds just aren’t in your favor, even if you win. The Powerball is similar to the standard lottery, but with a twist. Each player picks five numbers ranging from one through 69. The winning numbers are randomly selected.

The final number, the Powerball, ranges from one to 26, and always comes last. The goal is to pick the right numbers to win the jackpot, or, at least, a secondary prize.

If you do the math, the one-in-292 million odds come from the various combinations of winning numbers in any order multiplied by 26 (for every possible Powerball). These odds never change no matter how big the jackpot gets.

Although your odds remain the same, if you must buy a lottery ticket, you’re better off buying a ticket when the pot is large. The reason for this is what Statisticians call “expected return.” An expected return is your odds of winning multiplied by the potential payout. The higher the jackpot, the higher the potential payout.

For example, if you buy one Powerball ticket, you have a one in 292 million chance of winning a $1.4 billion (the jackpot). However, your expected return is about $5 on a $2 ticket—a sound investment. Except it isn’t that cut and dry.

If you beat the odds and, in fact, win, you would only get the full amount if you accept the payout over 30 years. If you select the lump sum, you will get just over half of the amount. But wait, there’s more! You then have to pay taxes on that money as well, losing about 40 percent at the federal tax rate. On top of that, the IRS withholds 25 percent just because you won the money gambling.

Depending on the state you live in, you then have to pay various state taxes (unless you live somewhere with no state tax). Eventually, your expected return is well below your initial investment.

Your expected return drops from $5 to below $2 (less than the cost of your ticket). Not a great investment. Even if you win a large amount, you win considerably less than expected.

As the jackpot grows, the expected return also gets bigger. However you must take into account that the higher the jackpot, the more people will play (decreasing your odds) and increasing the likelihood of splitting multiple wins.

The lottery is designed to work against you. In October 2015, the non-profit organization controlling Powerball changed the format. Upon increasing the range of white balls from 59 to 69, they also lowered the range of Powerball from 35 to 26, dropping the odds from one in 175 million to one in 292 million.

These changes simultaneously accomplished two things: made it easier to win low-stakes payouts and made it much harder to win the jackpot. In turn, this makes more people want to play, which makes the likelihood of your winning even less. If the odds are less likely that someone wins, the lottery is more likely to have record-breaking jackpots because it’s rolling over every time someone doesn’t win.

The larger the jackpot is, the more records it breaks, the more people talk about it and want to get in on the action. So not only are you playing a game that is designed to work against you, where the odds have never been in your favor, you’re also now playing with a bigger number of people. A game that even if you beat the odds and win a substantial amount, gets taxed to less than half of what you won.

Beating the odds and winning the lottery has also had catastrophic consequences in many lives. If you are receiving any kind of government assistance, even a modest lottery win can make you ineligible. Your assistance would end, and yet the winnings may not be enough to live on. Additional lottery winners misfortune include bankruptcy, lawsuits, failed relationships, suicide and even murder. Yes, money can change lives, but not always for the better.

Let’s put it into perspective: the odds of getting struck by lightning in a given year are 1 in 1,000,000. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning than you do of ever winning either the jackpot or a top secondary prize in a Powerball drawing.

You are 25x more likely to become President of the United States than to win a lottery jackpot. If you can overcome those astronomical odds, your winnings will be widdled down to less than half the amount, and you run the risk of money struggles and losing relationships with loved ones. How do you like those odds?

In the long run, you will likely end up spending a lot more money playing the lottery than you will ever make back. Every dollar you spend on the lottery would be better off spent on the stock market.

Better yet, instead of spending $6 on lottery tickets every week, put $6 in your savings account. With the money that would accumulate (especially if your bank gives you interest on your savings), in three years you could have a down payment for a car, which would make your car loan payment smaller, putting more money back in your pocket. Now, that is life changing money you can count on!

What about Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes?

PCH’s SuperPrize giveaways are among the most well-known sweepstakes in America, and the company is legitimate. However, so many people enter them that it is just like the lottery. For their mega-giveaways the odds are only around 1 in over 500-million! These sweepstakes do offer a difference from the Lottery because they are free to enter and the prizes can be life-changing… but spending hours filling out their forms and exchanging your personal information and consumer preferences for a very small chance at a prize is still a steep price to pay.

In addition many scam artists have piggy-backed on the well-known name and use it and even the logo to make their scam materials look more legitimate. While they look official they aren’t backed by a legitimate company. So how can you tell? The PCH website lists a number of signs to watch for, for other questions visit https://info.pch.com:

• Do you remember entering the sweepstakes?
• Is the sender asking for money, credit cards, or your social security info? Rembember real PCH entries ask for none of that information.
• If you receive notice that you’ve won something, call the company customer service directly…do not use the phone number in the letter. PCH doesn’t email or call it’s winners.
• If you receive a check it may be counterfeit and you could be left holding the bag. Never cash a check for another party and send them money!