Odds in Iowa: The Shocking Odds of Winning It All

It seems like every few months Iowans, and most of America, experience lottery fever. As we speak, the Mega Millions jackpot is ticking up to over 800 million in cold hard cash.

As a result, Iowans flock to convenience stores and buy tickets, grab extra cash for office pools, and start dreaming about winning big.

But, what are your actual odds of winning different contests? Let's dive in!

Your Odds Kinda Stink

There are a great many great things with terrible odds, like winning the lottery; and a large number of awful things, like being struck by lightning twice, that also have terrible odds.

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Let's start with the good, or fun ones. These stats come from Bookies.com.

• Odds of winning that massive Mega Millions jackpot: 302,575,350 to 1 (winning the jackpot requires matching 5 numbers, plus Megaplier - so six total)
• Odds of winning a Powerball jackpot: 1 in 292,201,338
• Odds of winning BOTH jackpots... oh my, Winning Powerball & Mega Millions – 75.6 quadrillion to 1! (That's a lotta zeroes... 15 to be exact)
• Odds on filling out that perfect NCAA Bracket – 120.1 billion to 1
• Odds of hitting a Blackjack 3 times in a row – 22,722 to 1 (waaay better odds than the lottery jackpots)
• Odds of flopping a Royal Flush – 19,600 to 1

So, how about the odds on some not-so-great things?

• Odds you'll die from flesh-eating bacteria – 1 million to 1 (EEK! Wish those odds were worse)
• Odds you'll be attacked by a shark – 5 million to 1
• Odds you'll be struck by lightning twice – 19 million to 1
• Odds of dying in a plane crash – 11 million to 1

When it comes to anything with odds, I always say...

You can see lots more unique odds here!

Hey, if you do win the lottery, you can afford this amazing Iowa log cabin!