Author: Gregory Wallace

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Before you start thinking about what you’d do with $485 million, let’s get serious: You’re not going to win.

Your chances of hitting the jackpot and taking home the entire Powerball winnings are extremely small — one in 175 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association. So too are the odds that you’ll take home a smaller prize of $1 million (one in 5 million) or even $100 (one in 12,000).

Still not convinced that your chances are slim?

Here’s the math — from real mathematicians:

“If you just want a positive expected rate of return, then our results … say to avoid Mega Millions and Powerball,” wrote two Emory University professors, Aaron Abrams and Skip Garibaldi. Their 2010 paper “Finding Good Bets in the Lottery, and Why You Shouldn’t Take Them” was published by The Mathematical Association of America.

It’s more likely, for example, that you will die in a lightning strike (one in 136,000), or on board a plane (one in 8,000).

It’s far more likely that you’ll crushed by an asteroid that falls out of the sky (one in 700,000)

It’s also more likely that a high school football player will play professionally (one in 1 million).

And it’s far more likely that you’ll be attacked by a shark (1 in 12 million).

There’s nothing wrong with dreaming — about quitting your job or that private island.

But chances are, you’re not going to win.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — A side effect of the improving economy: About 1 million needy people will lose food stamp benefits starting this fall.

That’s a new estimate by a left-leaning think tank, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which is urging Congress to change a federal law that limits how long someone can receive food stamps when they are out of a job.

Under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, most adults without children can receive food stamps for only three months unless they are working or attending a job training program at least 20 hours a week.

The three-month period was designed in the mid-1990s as a compromise between lawmakers who wanted a safety net and those who wanted to give beneficiaries an incentive to work.

But during the recession, most states got a waiver of the three-month cap because unemployment surged.

Today, 42 states still have full or partial waivers from the cap, according to numbers from the Agriculture Department, which coordinates the federally-funded SNAP program.

And now as the economy is improving, the three-month limit is expected to kick in again in many states.

By the Center’s estimates, that could cut off benefits for about 1 million adults, nearly all of whom fall below the poverty line.

“The loss of this food assistance, which averages approximately $150 to $200 per person per month for this group, will likely cause serious hardship among many,” the report reads.

To get ready for the cutoff, states should “prepare heavily affected local communities” for increased demand at food banks and homeless shelters, the Center urged.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — AT&T has launched a new volley in the battle between mobile phone providers.

The company announced new price cuts for family plans and offered additional discounts for new customers.

And in an apparent effort to keep its own customers from departing to other carriers, AT&T also extended the discounts to its current customers who renew. It offered a one-time $100 credit toward their bill for each new line registered with AT&T.

The plans are for customers who shell out for smartphones.

The company called the offer its best-ever. It estimated monthly savings between $40 and $100 for a family of four. A plan that includes 10GB of data, unlimited minutes and unlimited texting would cost $160 per month.

Similar offers are available for $260 per month at Verizon Wireless, at least $220 per month at Sprint, and $140 per month at T-Mobile, according to information on each company’s website.

With cell phones largely ubiquitous, providers are finding themselves cannibalizing each other for new customers.

AT&T is the No. 2 wireless carrier behind leader Verizon Wireless. AT&T has been under direct assault from T-Mobile, the No. 3 carrier that has eliminated contracts, cut rates and increased upgrade frequency.

Just this year, AT&T and T-Mobile have gone head-to-head fighting for customers. AT&T offered T-Mobile customers who switch $450 in credit. T-Mobile countered that with a similar offer amounting to $650.