Two Great Reasons You Need to Buy a Lottery Ticket this Weekend

For every game, we play there is a point in that game where it simply becomes a lot more interesting. In basketball, that time is usually the final two minutes. Granted that takes more than half an hour to play because of all the time-outs, it's still the most interesting part of the game.

The same can be said for games that don't require a stick or a ball. In this case, I am speaking of the nation's two big mulit-state lottery games. Namely the Powerball and the Mega Millions. It's been a while since anyone won the big money in those games but Louisiana has certainly had its share of winners on a smaller scale.

If you follow the chinwag around your office or in your circle of friends, this weekend is the weekend when you will start to hear people mentioning they need to buy a lottery ticket or they're in the office lottery pool. That's because the jackpots of both major games have now eclipsed $300 million dollars.

There is something magical about $300 million that motivates occasional lottery players to pick up a ticket or two. In the case of the Mega Millions game. That drawing for $323 million will be held tonight at 9:59 Louisiana time. That game has not had a "big jackpot" winner since June 11th of this year. That's 24 drawings with no winner. Based on the math, Mega Millions should get a winner either this weekend or next weekend.

The Powerball jackpot is estimated to be $367 million when they play that game on Saturday night. The drawing will be held at 9:59 Louisiana time. The last time there was a big jackpot winner with Powerball was on June 9th of this year. Hmm, that's very close to when the last Mega Millions winner took place.

Coincidence? Nope, it's statistics and math and all those subjects you hated in school.

So, based on the numbers, not the ping pong numbers, the statistical numbers we should be looking at a Powerball winner this weekend. That's made especially true since Powerball added the third drawing to their gameplay on Mondays. That started on August 23rd, by the way.

Now, for clarity's sake, statistics do not lead to absolute results but they are a great way to make a better guess. And since the lottery is all about a "guess" or chances I'd say the numbers are lining up for someone's life to change this weekend. But I am willing to bet a lot of someone else's money that by this time next week we will be reporting at least one major lottery win in the country.

So, if you didn't figure out what the "two great reasons " to buy a lottery ticket this weekend were, here they are. Mega Millions and Powerball, are both due to payout. And when they do someone will be looking for a place to retire and spend their life of leisure. Man, I hope it's me.