Forget the Lottery: Smart Investors Put Their Money Here Instead

The Powerball jackpot just reached a massive $1.7 billion, which is an incredible sum of money. It's still only the third highest jackpot in lottery history. Although you'll often hear that you have to be in it to win it, you're probably best off avoiding the lottery and buying the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) instead. Here's why.The math on the lottery is not good for lottery participants. From a dollars-and-cents perspective, lotteries brought in $103 billion from ticket sales in 2023. The cash paid out to winners was roughly $69 billion. That means that around $30 billion was raised from lotteries. But that cash has to cover operating expenses, so the total amount that states get is much less than that $30 billion sum. In the end, on average, lotteries provide just 2.3% of state revenues.Image source: Getty Images.Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool