Can you beat the odds? Powerball jackpot reaches $430M

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - The things you could do with $430 million!

You could spend it all on 1,000 Ferraris, or private jets for you and 400 of your friends, or you can take the responsible route, like paying for educations, investing, and donating to charity.

Years ago, Arizona State University math professor John Jones says one man found a way to guarantee you'd be a winner.

"There was one fellow, he would wait until the jackpot was big enough and he would literally buy every single combination of numbers, one of each, and he was guaranteed to win the jackpot," he said.

So with the big drawing tonight, could you do the same thing?

Unfortunately, there are more possible combinations today, so it wouldn't work. You'd have to buy 270 million tickets and once you do the math, it may not be the best plan.

"You would end up spending $540 million just to pay for the tickets, let alone all the time and effort that went into it," Jones said. "So, you'd be guaranteed to lose a significant amount of money by buying all the tickets this time around."

So take your chances and just buy one!

But keep yourself grounded and remember your odds -- 1 in 292,201,338.

Good luck!