The article decided the odds were: 32 teams, each with a 50% chance of winning, so the odds must be 1 in 2^32!
It's obviously wrong, of course, but journalists aren't typically known for their statistical math backgrounds. Interestingly, this article claims you can actually get the odds even lower, to about 1 in 1 billion: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-buffett-basketball-bet... using some more sophisticated team/player data.
The journalist also ignored reality when calculating taxes owed too. They used the $1 billion up front but they reported it'd be $25 million per year for 40 years (or one time payout of $500 million).
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The article decided the odds were: 32 teams, each with a 50% chance of winning, so the odds must be 1 in 2^32!
It's obviously wrong, of course, but journalists aren't typically known for their statistical math backgrounds. Interestingly, this article claims you can actually get the odds even lower, to about 1 in 1 billion: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-buffett-basketball-bet... using some more sophisticated team/player data.
The journalist also ignored reality when calculating taxes owed too. They used the $1 billion up front but they reported it'd be $25 million per year for 40 years (or one time payout of $500 million).