Tonight is the monster $540 million Mega MIllions drawing. And people are going crazy for it. The Daily News reports, "In the Empire State alone, 1.3 million tickets were sold in Thursday’s peak hour beginning around noon. Asked if the jackpot could hit the lofty $600 million mark by Friday’s drawing, a lottery spokeswoman wouldn’t bet against it." Update, 12 p.m.: The drawing is now worth $640 million!
Even financial journalist Felix Salmon was bullish on Mega Millions when the jackpot was a measly $241 million! Of course, there are some who are trying to tamp down the dreamers' hopes:
According to the California Lottery, the chance of winning Mega Millions is 1 in about 176 million.
Statistician Mike Orkin, the author of “What Are the Odds? Chances in Everyday Life,” puts it another way.
If you have one friend in Canada, put the name of every person in Canada in a hat and pick one, you are five times as likely to pick your friend’s name as you are to win the jackpot with a single ticket.
Facing these odds, if you bought 50 tickets each week, you’d win -- sometime before the year 70012.
You are 19 times as likely to be struck by lightning twice, 33 times as likely to be killed in the next year by bees and 40 times as likely to be dealt five blackjacks in a row as you are to win Mega Millions.
Fun fact: The NY Post says, "Over the last 15 months, PowerBall has paid out more money to more winners than Mega Millions, official statistics show... In 2012, PowerBall has paid out jackpots totalling $536.4 million. Mega Millions, by comparison, has paid out only $72 million to its one winner this year."
Oh, and if you join an office pool, make photocopies of the tickets and draw up a contract. You don't want a mess like this.
Update: The drawing is now $640 million, per the NY State Lottery website.
