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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Jan 3, 2022
January 3, 2022
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Guilty Pleasures:
--No winner in Saturday night's drawing for the Powerball Lottery. That means drawing is valued at $522 million. Chances of winning the grand prize (all five numbers plus the Powerball) are one in 292.2 million.
Until now, the largest Powerball jackpot was 1. $1.586 billion, Powerball back on Jan. 13, 2016 --but it had three winning tickets, from California, Florida and Tennessee).
Those Odds: You're more likely to get stuck on a tarmac for two hours or more waiting to take off than to win the Powerball lottery. Try 1 in 964.
At least that's according to a report from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Other odds for comparison:
--Winning Powerball: 1 in 292.2 million
--Struck by lightning: 1 in 700-thousand
--Being audited by the IRS: 1 in 175
--Getting pregnant from a one-night stand: 1 in 20
--Dating a Supermodel: 1 in 7,000
--Dying from a flesh-eating bacteria: 1 in 1 million.
Meanwhile, Professor LEW LEFTON from Georgia Tech's School of Mathematics says that saying your chances are slim to none at winning the lottery is a complete understatement.
Imagine rolling ten dice all at the same time. If all ten landed on the same number the very first time you tried, that's still five times more likely than winning the jackpot.
You're also 500 times more likely to get a royal flush in the first five cards you are dealt (1 in 655,750) than taking home the big prize.
Lew also offers a couple of strategies so you won't have to share that elusive jackpot:
--Many people play birthday numbers, so choosing higher, less-popular numbers decreases the chances of sharing the pot.
--Also, people statistically choose odd numbers more often. Choosing high, even numbers is your best bet, according to Lefton.
Singer ADELE is doing pretty well --she's buying SYLVESTER STALLONE's mansion in Beverly Hills for a mere $58 million bucks. If that sounds expensive to you, it's a lot less than when Sly put it on the market last year... for $110 million. It sits on three and a half acres, has eight bedrooms, 12 bathrooms and is in the same neighborhood where LISA VANDERPUMP and ROD STEWART used to live.
And congrats to "Jeopardy!" contestant AMY SCHNEIDER, who's won the most consecutive games of any woman in the show's history --that'd be 22 games so far. Her total winnings on "Jeopardy!" have now reached $831,600; the fifth highest amount ever and the highest amount for a female contestant.
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