Blog

Notes from building Lottery Dreams.

Why the advertised jackpot is misleading, what we learned modelling 50 states of tax law, and what it's like shipping a first digital product out of a tiny company. Short, honest, and shipped when there's something worth saying.

● Tax Math

The advertised jackpot is fiction. Here's the real number.

Walking through the math on an $825M Powerball from the headline to the bank deposit — where every dollar goes, who takes it, and why most take-home calculators get the last third wrong.

Alex Marciante · April 21, 2026 · 8 min read
● Engineering

Modeling 50 states of lottery tax law without losing our minds.

Seven weird scenarios, one flat file of tax rates, and the hardest question we had to answer: does "state tax" mean withholding or liability? A look at the data model behind the app.

Alex Marciante · April 21, 2026 · 11 min read
● Product

Why we chose $2.99/month over advertising — and don't regret it.

The case for a clean, private, subscription-only tool in a category overrun by ads and upsells. How we priced it, how we run the business, and what "no ads" actually means under the hood.

Alex Marciante · April 21, 2026 · 7 min read

More posts coming.

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