Your chances of winning a lottery jackpot like the Powerball or Mega Millions are so slim that they may as well be nonexistent. According to Powerball.com, the odds of a Powerball jackpot winning are 1 in 292 million (or 1 in 292,201,338, to be precise.)

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The smart folks over at Business Insider ran the numbers, and they ain't pretty. Buying lottery tickets is such a colossal waste of time that you may as well just burn the cash at home instead of heading to the store to buy them — it would be quicker.

But, as the saying goes, you can’t win if you don’t play. Here’s a list of events (that we definitely didn’t make up) that are more likely to happen than winning the Powerball.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

  • Have an IQ higher than a really smart guy like Stephen Hawking or someone like that – (1 out of 107 million)
  • Give birth to an octopus, even without the help of fertility treatments – (1 in 729,000)
  • Be killed by an asteroid strike because Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck failed to blow it up before it collided with Earth – (1 in 700,000)
  • Becoming a billionaire, playboy-philanthropist who is also an alcoholic like Tony Stark from the Marvel movies – (1 in 575,097)
  • Be killed by a lightning strike and then get super electric powers – (1 in 164,968)
  • Die by drowning before Aquaman can rescue you – (1 in 1,113)
  • Be struck by lightning, while drowning – (1 in 183 million)

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. (center) is flanked by GOP whip Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (left) and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, as Thune speak to reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Earlier Tuesday, the Senate passed the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

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