What Are The Odds of That?

Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

The Powerball is currently at $369 million. The highest ever price pot was $1.586 billion. An eye-watering amount of money, with an equally jaw-dropping long shot chance of winning. The odds of winning the Powerball or Mega Millions stands at 1 in 292,000,000 to 295,000,000 million. But even the smallest of chances is still a possibility? Here are some odds that might surprise you.

There is a statistic that has tracked the odds of getting injured by a toilet. The chances that you are non-fatally injured in or around the bathroom is 1 in 10,000. That is around the chance of winning an Oscar, 1 in 11,500 or the probability of finding a pearl in an oyster, 1 in 12,000. All these are more likely than winning the lottery, so perhaps it’s time to spend the lottery money on some acting classes?

Another great trivia is the chance of getting hit by lightning. Although this is only 1 in 700,000 per year, it gets more interesting if you calculate the probability over a lifetime, 1 in 3,000. That seems a lot more likely! Best start reading up on methods to avoid being hit! And what about the fear of flying? Odds of dying in an airplane crash is 1 in 205,552. Flying is arguably less safe than taking a bath. Drowning in the bathtub odds are 1 in 840,000. But thinking that a bathtub is 4 times safer than an airplane is quite odd.

And you might have thought that shark attacks and quicksand would have been a bigger issue growing up. The chances you are attacked by a shark is 1 in 3,748,067. Not sure though if that statistic is for all people or just those who swim in the ocean. For quicksand the mortality number is 0, i.e. people don’t really die from quicksand. You have a better chance of giving birth to twins, 1 in 250. Or winning the McDonald’s Monopoly game, 1 in 451,822,158. Those are long odds, especially considering that the odds of dying from a bee, hornet or wasp sting are 1 in 6,100,000. Note that it’s harder to win the McDonald’s Monopoly game than it is to win the Powerball or Mega Millions.

The odds of being involved in a car accident in the US is 1 in 163. Considering our musings around winning the lottery, this seems much more likely to give you a pay-out, granted you are not the one responsible for the accident. So, when you find yourself needing to get some legal advice on an automotive accident, get some additional details.

If you work out the chances of being in a drunken car crash over a lifetime, that number will dramatically increase, namely 2 in 3. So, the message is: always get a designated driver or Uber!

And if you ever win a significant sum of money, make sure to get receipts for everything! Be aware, the odds of being audited by the IRS is 1 in 160, which gets higher the more income you have.

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