How likely is it to win the lottery jackpot?

Winning the lottery is one of those things that we have all considered at least once in our lifetime. There is something very attention-grabbing about becoming a millionaire overnight and potentially living a lifestyle full of things that those at the very top of the social ladder enjoy, like Saudi Prince Alwaleed’s $48 million Mercedes-Benz fully embedded with diamonds and gold, or Floyd Mayweather’s mere 10-minute flight on his own private jet.

However, playing the Powerball or the Mega Millions and hoping to win is like trying to become the next president of the United States, get selected to be an astronaut, or star in a blockbuster movie… except those are all more likely than winning the jackpot.

Your chances of hitting the jackpot are about 1 in 302 million; you have far better chances to become president (1 in 10 million), become an astronaut (1 in 12 million), or star in a blockbuster movie (1 in 1.5 million).

You are also more likely to get struck by lightning (1 in 1.2 million), so consider that when you buy a lottery ticket.

Written by Carlos Laphond Moreno (carlos@newsazb.com) for Arizona Bilingual Newspaper