Timing is everything, my friend. Sure, but that is the chance they have to take, otherwise it would be again, a nobrainer. Now last week when the pay off was 250 mill and the number of variations the same 176 mill, not counting for taxes, would have made a good play. Now for the record, in Europe in some countries so called "combination plays" are allowed, even encouraged. You have to pick more numbers (then what the winning ticket has) and what type of variations you want to play, and you pay the price according how many variations exist. This saves time for the player, cost for the company but they also make sure you can only play limited combinations, not the whole existing variability....
There would never be 355 winners when the odds are nearly 200 Million-to-win... but on a smaller scale something like that happend about 20 years ago in the Colorado Lottery. The jackpot was at a record $18 Million... but there were TEN winners. The numbers which came up were the 4 corners on the Quick Pick grid + 2 in the center. Imagine the disappointment when the winners learned they had to share the loot 10 ways.