Powerball
$500,000,000
• The drawing for one of the biggest jackpots in
U.S. history will take place Wednesday night. The
$500 million Powerball jackpot is up for grabs,
and millions of people across the country are
hoping their ticket is the winning one.
• Half a billion dollars. One lucky person, or
persons, could become a lot richer Wednesday
night. So what are your odds of winning?
• In short: not good.
• The odds of winning are 1 in 175,000,000.
• So what does that mean? It means you are
14,000 times more likely to hit a hole in one as an
amateur golfer. It means you are 270 times more
likely to be dealt a Royal Flush in poker. And it
means you are about 1,500 times more likely to
visit the emergency room because of a pogo stick
injury.
• But let’s say you beat the odds. What could you
buy with $500 million?
• Say the cost of a year of private college costs
$50,000 a year. You could send someone to
school for 10,000 years.
Costa Concordia
• Captain Francesco Schettino was at the helm
when the ship hit rocks and sank in 2012, killing
32 people.
• He was accused of taking the liner too close to
the shore and then abandoning ship with
passengers and crew still on board.
• Schettino denied the charges and said he was
being made a scapegoat.
• His lawyers had argued that it was a collective
failure of the ship's crew and others should share
the blame for the disaster.