Right, so it's not "a figure of speech", which was my point. He wasn't just saying "hey, like, it's a billion-to-one", which would be a figure of speech because

Right, so it's not "a figure of speech", which was my point. He wasn't just saying "hey, like, it's a billion-to-one", which would be a figure of speech because the "billion" clearly would not be meant literally. Rather, the 25 was specifically computed, albeit under unrealistic assumptions (as you point out). In any case, the fact is that he should have said that "you're 48 times LESS likely to become the next president of the US....," based on the observation that there's about one Powerball Jackpot winner per month: http://portalseven.com/lottery/powerball_jackpot_winners.jsp http://portalseven.com/lottery/powerball_jackpot_winners.jsp