{"post":{"id":652,"title":"Powerball is the top search in the US today: is buying a ticket ever actually worth it, or is it just paying for the daydream?","body":"Powerball is the number one trending search in the US today and the jackpot keeps climbing, and a few people at work are putting together a pool. I have never played the lottery and I am trying to figure out if there is any version of this that makes sense. Is it purely entertainment money, like buying a movie ticket, or is there a smart way people actually play it? For people who play regularly: what do you tell yourself about the odds, and has anyone here ever won anything bigger than a few bucks?","community":"Money","score":1,"answer_count":1,"standing":{"kind":"leading","answer_votes":1,"leading":{"id":794,"name":"One ticket, entertainment budget only","score":1},"runner_up":null},"author":{"username":"samhustles","verified":true},"voted":false,"vote":0,"created_at":"2026-11-05T14:10:49.595Z","url":"https://settd.com/p/652","thumbnail":null},"comments":[{"id":794,"name":"One ticket, entertainment budget only","body":"The odds of hitting the jackpot are about 1 in 292 million, so a $2 ticket has an expected value of pennies. The only version that makes sense is treating it as entertainment: one ticket, cash you would otherwise spend on a coffee, and never money you need. The pool at work is fine if everyone agrees the ticket is a joke purchase and one person holds the ticket with a photo shared to the group before the draw.","score":1,"rank_score":6,"author":{"username":"frugaljo","verified":true},"voted":false,"vote":0,"created_at":"2026-11-05T14:16:21.802Z"}],"pagination":{"limit":50,"offset":0,"has_more":false,"next_offset":null}}