As Powerball mania and the promise of $1.6 Billion swept the airways, Andy Kiersz came up with his own idea on how to win. Unfortunately, it would require 189,000 people filling out all the possible Powerball combinations on those annoying scantrons, working 10 hours a day at a rate of 50 tickets per hour.

Questions:
1. Read the comments to the story. Which is your favorite and why?
2. Assume that Kiersz was one of the three actual winners after buying all the ticket combinations and selected the cash option. Present a profit and loss statement using this information and discuss whether this was a good idea.
3. What type of relationship is shown in the graph of The Likelihood of Avoiding a Split Pot vs. Number of Tickets Sold? What effect does this have on Andy’s plan?
4. Did you buy a Powerball ticket? Why or why not?

Source:
Kiersz, A. (2016). What If You Bought All 292 Million of the Possible Powerball Combinations? The Atlantic, January 13 (Retrievable online at http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/powerball-ticket-all-combinations/423930/#article-comments)