What are the chances that you will WIN THE LOTTERY? And how much is one ticket really worth?

Recently a South Carolinian won 1.537 billion dollars. ONE POINT FIVE THREE SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS. If you don't realize how just much that is, it's enough to buy almost 300 million Big Macs. (278947368.421 to be exact.)

When you see the billion plus lotteries advertised you're probably very tempted to buy a ticket. The chance, however small it might be, to make yourself, your children, your children's children and your children's children's children financially secure seems like the chance of a lifetime.

So just how small is that chance of winning the top prize? Well for the Mega Millions lottery jackpot its 1 in 302,575,350.

To put that one in perspective you're more likely to be killed by a vending machine (a 1 in 112 million chance).

You also have to keep in mind that Uncle Sam also takes a big piece of the pie. If you took the lump sum option on the 1.537 billion dollar lottery you would only keep $904 million with over 600 million dollars in federal taxes. Keep in mind this isn't even including State taxes so you could be paying even more depending on which state you live in.

So is the ticket worth the price? (i.e. is it a good bet to make?). Well according to BusinessInsider, after taxes, it's not with an expected value of $-0.26 (for lump sum).

But who really buys a lottery ticket for the odds. Most of us who buy a lottery ticket every now and then buy it knowing that the odds aren't in our favour.

Then again the odds of you existing are basically zero, far far far worse than winning any lottery, according to this image based on a Harvard Professor's findings. So if you still want to take a chance on the lottery, make sure to still follow the golden crypto-investing rule, don't spend any money you can't afford to lose.