HOW TO BECOME A BILLIONAIRE

Nothing earthshaking occurring around the world and in the USA, so I'll start with a reminder:  Our women's soccer team plays tonight against Portugal.  3AM EDT or 9PM in Hawaii on your Fox channel.

Kickoff at Eden Park is set for 3 a.m. ET. Caesars Sportsbook lists the United States as the -390 favorites (risk $390 to win $100) in the latest USWNT vs. Portugal odds, with Portugal listed as +1000 underdogs. A draw is priced at +420, and the over/under for total goals scored is 2.5. (For more soccer coverage, click here.)

For those who don't understand American Odds, -390 means that the U.S. has an 80% chance of winning.  If they even tie, they will advance to the next round.  Speaking of betting, the next most important news of the day is the drawing for a billion dollars in the Mega Millions lottery tonight.

You can lie and cheat and become a billionaire, such as Donald Trump.  He supposedly is worth $2.5 billion.

Forbes says there are 2640 billionaires from 77 countries in the world.  If you are one, you are among the top 0.000033% richest people.  Or, in other words, there is one billionaire for every 3 million people.

So how can you immediately become a billionaire?  Win the Powerball or Mega Millions lottery.  Your chance of doing this, though, is about one in 300 million.  In comparison:

• 1 chance in 12,000 of finding a pearl in a restaurant oyster.
• 1 in 10,000 to find a four leaf clover.
• 1 in 15,300 of being struck by lightning.
• 1 in 44,459 of being killed by a venomous animal or plant.
• 1 in 88,000 of dating a supermodel.
• 1 in 46,562 of being killed by a bee or hornet.
• 1 in 75,000 of dying in a global impact of an asteroid.
• 1 in 188,365 of being killed in a plance cras.
• 1 in 2.7 million of being killed by a bear at Yellowstone.
• 1 in 3.7 million of being attacked by a shark.
• 1 in 112 million of being killed by a vending machine.
• 1 in 9.2 quintillion of picking a perfect NCAA bracket.  Or just about 1 followed by 19 zeroes.

Buying a $2 lottery ticket is not a good investment.  But gambling is not smart anyway.  Yet many flock to places like Las Vegas, knowing they will most likely lose money.  There is entertainment value  too in the national lottery.

Another common comparison is getting struck by lighting. Even if you bought a lottery ticket for every drawing over 80 years — two times a week for Mega Millions and three times a week for Powerball — you would still be far less likely to win than to be struck by lighting once in your lifetime, Syracuse University mathematics professor Steven Diaz added.

Plus, say you strike it rich and win a billion dollars, they will only give you $516.8 million, which does not qualify you for billionaire status.  What the fine print says is that you can get the full billion if you distribute this winning over 29 years.  Even worse, there are Federal and State taxes.  But Powerball just recently was hit for $1.586 billion on a $2+$1 ticket.  Half of that, minus taxes, gets you closer.  The largest winning was $2.04 billion for Powerball in 2022.

The winner of that $2.04 billion was Edwin Castro of California.  But even that amount did not quite make him a billionaire, for he only got $997.6 million.  Ah, but life is not all that easy.  Castro was sued by Jose Rivera, who claimed he bought the ticket and it was stolen by Castro.  However, three months later, on Valentine's Day, Castro was confirmed as the legal winner.

Oh,, Joe Chahayed, who sold the ticket in his Altadena Mobil gas station won $1 million.

So anyway, what's your next opportunity?  

• The Mega Millions jackpot will be worth $1.05 billion and will be determined tomorrow, Tuesday, at 11PM EDT.  Well, not exactly, for it depends on the state.  New Jersey, for example, has a deadline of 9:15PM EDT, while Arizona is 6:59 PM Mountain Time.

• 
  Pick five numbers for $2 and a Megaball number for $1, or $3.  The white balls are numbered 1 to 70 and the golden Mega Ball from 1 to 25.  
• These tickets can be usually be bought in grocery stores, gas stations and convenience stores.  Some states allow online purchasing, but beware of scam websites.

• 
  You can play in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  But Alabama, Alaska, Nevada, Utah and Hawaii residents cannot participate in your home state.  You can, though, have someone buy your ticket in a qualifying state, or go yourself to another state.  If you win, you still need to pay state taxes, and of course, to the IRS.

Hawaii protects us from gambling.

• There is some history, for a lottery bill was almost approved, but in 1893 Queen Liliuokalani was overthrown.
• There was legal horse betting before 1940, but no more.

• 
  Interestingly enough, in 1972 Del Webb's Kuilima Resort Hotel and Country Club was built to be a casino.  However, "his" bill failed to pass.  This is today the Turtle Bay Resort.
• In 2019 a bill was introduced to allow a state lottery, which would open up Powerball and Mega Millions, but only passed first reading.

Hawaii does have two billionaires, Larry Ellison and Pierre Omidyar.  Ellison doesn't live here, but owns 98% of Lanai.  Steve Case is from here, cousin of Congressman Ed Case, is worth $1.5 billion, but lives elsewhere.  Similarly, Blair Parry-Okedan is worth $8.4 billion, but lives in Australia.  They all earned their status.

Let me end with a note that Barbenheimer has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.  I've hyped Barbie and Oppenheimer for a couple of weeks now, and I guess I was right.  The expectation is Barbie will alone someday surpass a billion, for it has already reached $800 million.  There seems to be a constant 2:1 ratio, for Oppie has earned $405 million.

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