$856 Million, Lucky 8s, and My Fraternity Lottery Dictatorship

The Powerball jackpot has climbed to $856 million, with the next drawing on Saturday, August 8, 2026 (8/8/26).

Now, I think the number 8 is considered lucky in Mandarin. I'm not entirely sure. I speak approximately three words of Mandarin, and two of them are probably pronounced wrong.

Still... 8/8? I'll take all the luck I can get.

I've also made an executive decision for the fraternity lottery pool. We've doubled the buy-in from $10 to $20 per person, which means twice the tickets and slightly better odds of one of us becoming completely unemployable.

To keep everyone informed, I've been posting the ever-changing odds in our Discord channel based on how many brothers are playing. It's educational. It's transparent. It's probably the most math some of us have done since college.

There has been one other policy change.

After weeks of organizing the pool, collecting money, driving to Harris Teeter, buying tickets, photographing them, and sending updates, one particularly ungrateful fraternity brother has been permanently promoted to... former participant.

Congratulations!

Your lottery odds with my pool are now exactly 0.000000%.

It's amazing how quickly the Fraternity Lottery Commissioner can become the Fraternity Lottery Dictator.

Long live the Commissioner.

Good luck to everyone else. If we win $856 million, drinks are on me.

Well... probably not. That's how people stay rich.

Join the fun on NielFlamm.com/blog.