You get either a 50/50 chance to win tonights Powerball lottery drawing or some guaranteed cash
Here's the setup-
I very wealthy and well connected person has chosen you at random and makes you an offer. You are shown three sealed envelopes. Two of the envelopes each contain a single lottery ticket for this evening's Powerball drawing. One ticket is just a set of random numbers, but the other one has the actual winning numbers for the drawing (yes, the game is rigged). The third envelope contains a cashier's check for $50,000.
The rules are as follows-
The envelope holding the cashier's check is a different color from the others, so if you choose the cash it is easily identifiable.
You will NOT be able to see the actual tickets before making your choice if you decide to choose a ticket.
If you do happen to choose the winning ticket, there's NO GUARANTEE that someone else didn't randomly chose the same winning numbers- so there is the possibility you might have to split the winnings (a lump sum payment of approx. 433 million dollars).
If you do decide to take the fifty thousand, you will be handed the cashier's check BUT both envelopes with the lottery tickets will be put through a shredder while you watch.
With all that to consider, what would be your choice?
Posted Aug 12, 2026, 8:14 PM UTC