Welcome to the Tweep Trends podcast. Hey, Evette, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evette, hey girl. And you are tuned in to Tweep Trends.
It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. I'd like to talk about the lottery today. Let's get started. The lottery has always intrigued me.
Back in the day, South Carolina did not have the lottery, so whenever we would go out of town, if we went to a state that had the lottery, the first order of business was to get a lottery ticket. After that, we can do whatever else. We can sight see, we can visit family, we can do whatever. But if I don't have a lottery ticket, then it's going to be trouble, you know?
Let's fast forward a little bit. Then South Carolina gets the lottery. That happens and it's almost like it was nonexistent. That same excitement that I had for playing it when we would go out of state, I didn't have that same excitement once it came to us.
I just did not have that urge or desire to want to play. And I can't even really explain why. Same thing happened when we moved to Florida. I can probably tell you maybe a handful of times I played the lottery.
And it was in situations like what we have going on now where Powerball is up to $441 million. So that's when everybody gets all chatty about the lottery and what they would do with the money if they want it and everything. And then people just start buying tickets and it becomes a really big thing. So like I said, I'm hearing this and I'm a little bit more intrigued again.
You know, it's kind of like, huh, maybe I will go get a ticket. To play or not to play, that is the question. So many people will tell you that you are more likely to get struck by lightning than you are to win the lottery. However, you have to put that statement into the proper context.
You're more likely to get struck by lightning than you are to win the top prize in the lottery. If you're okay with winning one of the lesser prizes, the odds are way better and you would be more likely to win than get struck by lightning. When you think about the Powerball, there are nine ways to win. And then on top of that, you have all these different power ups, power plays that you can do that would increase the amount of money if you got any of the numbers right.
Now, all you have to do is have one number right to win anything. Now granted that one number is the Powerball. Still, if you get the Powerball right and you're just playing regular, you'll win $4. Now, if you spent $2 on this ticket, then guess what?
You made your money back plus the cost for a ticket on top of that. That's winning right there, right? Now, the other ways, the other combination, there's one number in the Powerball, two numbers in the Powerball, three numbers without the Powerball, four numbers without the Powerball, three with the Powerball, four with the Powerball, you got five numbers and then all five with the Powerball. Now that all five with the Powerball, that is a tough combination to actually come up with, but people have done it.
And so when you think about it, once again, if you have the money to spare, then it's okay. If you consider that a smaller win is still a win nonetheless, then hey, why not give it a try? It may seem like I'm trying to make it sound like the lottery is the best thing since sliced bread. However, you've got to know yourself.
If you know that you have issues with gambling, if you know that you are not the greatest when it comes to handling finances, by all means don't do it. Steer, clear, run, Boris, run, don't even consider it. It's not for you. It's only, the way how I look at it, it should really only be used for entertainment purposes.
You know, if you win, great. Now you have to be in it to win it. So don't sit there and gripe about it and complain, but you haven't bought a ticket because hey, you weren't going to win anyway. Like that's the surefire way not to win the lottery.
But if you can handle a small bet here and there, don't make it a regular thing because when it becomes a regular thing, it might as well be smoking cigarettes or something like that because the money that you would spend every day, every other day, whatever, like the power ball, they draw the number three times a week. So if you're buying tickets three times a week, even if it's just one ticket, $2 a pop, that's $6 per week. When you go and multiply that and look at what you would spend in lottery tickets for the year, then that's when you have to start saying to yourself, is this really worth it? Is the benefit, is it worth it?
Am I making money back? Is it enough to kind of break even? Or maybe not even completely breaking even, but coming close to it to where this money could be going towards breaking down a credit card bill or making an extra payment on a mortgage or something like that. You have to be smart about it, but by all means, if you can handle it, then do it for entertainment purposes only.
But if not, baby, don't even go there. Thank you so much for joining me for today's episode. If you are considering getting in on this power ball action, you still have some more time. And if you live in a state that has the power ball, you can even go to powerball.com and get your tickets there.
I mean, no waiting in line at the 7-11, come on. It's an easy decision right there. But if you know that you can't handle the gambling, if you can't take this as entertainment purposes only, then by all means, forget I said any of that and keep it moving, okay? Before I go, let me just apologize.
This episode is coming out a day late because honestly, the holidays have, I'm all confused. And yeah, basically by the line is, I really didn't even realize that today was Tuesday until it was too late. So thank you again for joining me on our day off. And I hope to be back on Thursday.
I may not, I might try to get it out early because I have some dental work that needs to get done on Thursday. And I'm not quite sure how I'm gonna feel afterwards. So that one might come out early or at least I'll record it early enough that I can actually publish it at a decent time on the regular day, okay? Thanks for joining me again.
And I look forward to talking to you again on Thursday. Two, three, three.