The Odds Of Life And The Lottery

You have 1 in 175,711,536 odds of winning tonight's Mega Millions lottery jackpot. How does that compare to other events in life? Let's take a look.

The odds of your identity being stolen today?  1 in 200.

You have a 1 in 3,623 chance of injuring yourself while mowing your lawn.

The odds of getting a hole-in-one in golf:  1 in 5,000.

The odds of bowling a 300 game:  1 in 11,500.

The odds of you injuring yourself with fireworks:  1 in about 20,000.  Regardless, don't play with fireworks.

Lightning hurts. You have a 1 in 576,000 chance of getting struck by lightning and  a 1 in 2,300,000 chance of being killed from a lightning strike.

Depending on how many doughnuts you had this morning, the odds of you winning an Olympic medal:  1 in 662,000.  Go team!

Revel is opening in a few days.  If you like playing poker, the odds of getting a royal flush on the first five cards dealt to you are 1 in about 700,000.

Odds of dying from food poisoning: 1 in 3,000,000.

The chance of you dying from being hit by something falling off of a plane and striking you:  1 in 10,000,000.

The odds of you becoming an astronaut:  1 in 13,200,000.

Are you a really nice person?  There's a 1 in 20,000,000 chance you'll become a saint.

Feeling adventurous? The chance of you being killed from a mountain lion attack is 1 in 32,000,000. I don't think there are many mountain lions in Ocean City.

The chance you have of contracting the human version of mad cow disease is 1 in 40,000,000.

The odds of winning Mega Millions falls here at 1 in 175,711,536.

And the odds of you being killed from a shark attack are 1 in 300,000,000. Thank you, Martin Brody.

Good luck.