--- description: The Powerball lottery jackpot is expected to grow to a record $1.3 billion by the next drawing on Wednesday night. title: Over 800,000 People Shared This Mathematically Inept Powerball Post image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # More Than 800,000 People Shared This Mathematically Inept Powerball Post ## Video: What To Do With Your Piles Of Cash After Winning The Powerball [Watch (HLS stream): What To Do With Your Piles Of Cash After Winning The Powerball](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5KvH2pPv.m3u8) (1:55)  _Published 2016-01-11. Before you make a mattress out of money, take these steps to protect your new fortune._  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Jan 11, 2016 8:18 PM CUT  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Jan 11, 2016 8:18 PM CUT The [Powerball lottery jackpot](http://time.com/4171474/powerball-lottery-more-likely-win/ "undefined") is expected to grow to a record [$1.4 billion](http://time.com/4169112/powerball-lottery-winner/ "undefined") by the next drawing on Wednesday night. When that estimate grew to $1.3 billion, a lottery meme began circulating on social media claiming that if the jackpot were divided evenly among all Americans, poverty would become nonexistent. So what’s the problem? Well, the math is completely wrong. The meme states that $1.3 billion divided among 300 million people would come out to $4.33 million per person. In reality, it would only equal about $4.33 per person. [Gizmodo](http://factually.gizmodo.com/powerball-math-1-3-billion-divided-by-300-million-is-1752269297 "undefined") also points out that the population of the United States is closer to 319 million, meaning that everyone would actually only receive around $4.09\. And of course, all of those figures don’t even take into account the fact that the payout will be [_significantly_ ](http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/08/pf/taxes/powerball-jackpot-tax-bill/ "undefined")[reduced by taxes](http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/08/pf/taxes/powerball-jackpot-tax-bill/ "undefined"). **Read More:** [Here’s a Guaranteed Way to Win the Powerball Jackpot](http://time.com/4175605/powerball-jackpot-guarantee-win/ "undefined") The Facebook post currently has more than 400,000 likes and 813,000 shares, and has even inspired several counter-memes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4175797/powerball-math-facebook-post/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4175797/powerball-math-facebook-post/"},"headline":"More Than 800,000 People Shared This Mathematically Inept Powerball Post","datePublished":"2016-01-11T20:18:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:28:34.453Z","description":"The numbers just don't add up","url":"https://time.com/4175797/powerball-math-facebook-post/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Social Media","Internet","facebook","Lottery","Powerball"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4175797/powerball-math-facebook-post/","name":"More Than 800,000 People Shared This Mathematically Inept Powerball Post"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What To Do With Your Piles Of Cash After Winning The Powerball","description":"Before you make a mattress out of money, take these steps to protect your new fortune.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5KvH2pPv/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-01-11T17:40:58.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5KvH2pPv.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4175797/powerball-math-facebook-post/","duration":"PT1M55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4175797/powerball-math-facebook-post/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```