So, This Guy Walks Up With a Lottery Ticket…

If you haven't been paying attention, the Powerball Lottery jackpot is now hovering around $500 million for tonight's drawing. Could you use half a billion dollars?

Now, keep in mind that if you should be the sole winner, you won't get all $500 million. After taxes and such, you'll probably only clear about $230 million. You'll have to decide if that paltry amount is worth your valuable time and trouble.

We've all heard about the astronomical odds against winning. About 1 in 175,000,000.

Here are some things more likely to happen to you: (courtesy Moneyminiblog.com)

1. Having identical quadruplets. (1 in 15 million)
2. Becoming US president. (1 in 10 million)
3. Becoming a Movie Star. (1 in 1,505,000)
4. Becoming an astronaut. (1 in 12,100,000)
5. Becoming a pro athlete. (1 in 22,000)
6. Winning an Olympic gold medal. (1 in 662,000)
7. Winning an academy award. (1 in 11,500)
8. Finding out your child is a genius. (1 to 250)
9. Dating a millionaire. (1 to 215)
10. Getting a royal flush in a first hand of poker. (1 in 649,740)

Those are all pretty good things. Now some bad things more likely to happen:

1. Being killed by a vending machine. (1 in 112 million)
2. Being killed in a terrorist attack on an airline. (1 in 25 million)
3. Dying from a bee, hornet or wasp sting. (1 in 6.1 million)
4. Dying from being left-handed. What? (1 in 4.4 million)
5. Dying in a plane crash. (1 in 1 million)
6. Being killed by flesh-eating bacteria. (1 in 1 million)
7. Getting Struck by Lightning. (1 in 1 million)
8. Drowning (1 in 2,000,000)
9. Drowning specifically in a bathtub. (1 in 840,000)
10. Dying in an on-the-job accident. (1 in 48,000)
11. Being murdered…just in general. (1 in 18,000)

Still, it can and does happen. Some people go crazy upon discovering that they've won, others are just a bit more mellow about things:

Some people just have a good time with it:

Good luck. And, should you win, let's not forget your little radio friends...