Yes, that’s the set jackpot amount to be won in the United States lottery this evening, enough to make you just as rich as the chairman of leading emerging markets media group Naspers, Koos Bekker, or $400 million richer than Tanzanian billionaire Mohamed Dewji, provided you don’t need to pay tax.
Even though they say money can’t buy you happiness, the US jackpot can sure do a lot to get you closer to it.
If luck is on your side and you end up being the winner, here are some ways that you could spend the $1.5 billion:
- With the Seychelles’ GDP just over $1.4 billion, you could buy the whole country and keep a few million dollars as change.
- The world’s most expensive car, the Maybach Exelero, is a whopping $8 million. With $1.5 billion you could buy 187 of them, that’s if you’re that into luxury cars.
- At $737 million, you could buy yourself the world’s most expensive plane, the US military’s B-2 spirit jet, and have enough change to buy the world’s most expensive private jet, the Airbus A380 ($500 million), which is owned by Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal.
- Stuck between who’s your favourite football player between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo? With the $1.5 billion you could buy both their teams with Real Madrid’s worth estimated at $746 million and FC Barcelona at $657 million. That way, you can have all the access you want with the players for a fair judgement.
- Thinking of buying businesses in South Africa? You could easily take control of the gaming and gambling world by buying Tsogo Sun ($1.41 billion) and still have $80 million left over in change. The Clicks Group ($1.24 billion) would also be another good investment leaving you with over $200 million change. If you were to go into mining, Impala Platinum ($1.22 billion) would be a lucrative investment leaving you with a good chunk of change.
- In Kenya you could buy British American Tobacco Kenya ($782 million), Diamond Trust Bank Kenya ($449 million), Kenya Airways ($69 million) and Total Kenya ($30 million) and still be left with over $160 million.
- You could buy Ecobank Transnational Incorporated ($1.39 billion) in Nigeria or Guinesss Nigeria PLC ($908 million) amongst other investments.
Of course in order to stand a chance of winning, you would have to play. Thanks to the lottery ticket Concierge Service, you can now buy tickets for each US Powerball draw online regardless of your geographical location. However your chance of winning is 1 in 292 million.
By: Aviwe Mtila.
Review: Emerging Market Formulations & Research Unit, Flagship Records.
For The #FacebookTeam