Mega Millions jackpot a ‘pipe dream,’ but that’s not stopping Charlotteans from dreaming
The lure of a $1.28 billion jackpot in Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing is too much to pass up for some Charlotte-area residents, even those who rarely play the lottery.
The jackpot is second-largest Mega Millions prize in the game’s 20-year history, and the third time it has surpassed $1 billion.
Friday’s prize has grabbed the attention of both first-time players and regulars. Employees at five Charlotte convenience stores told The Charlotte Observer they’re seeing more people spending more money on tickets.
The only time Todd Robinson bought a lottery ticket was a year ago, when the jackpot also was notably large, he told the Observer.
Robinson, a construction foreman, spent $6 on a lottery ticket at a 7-Eleven on Freedom Drive on Thursday.
“I’m gonna win so I can quit this stupid, dirty job,” Robinson said.
Robinson said he knows many people who, like him, rarely play the lottery. He just couldn’t refuse a shot at $1 billion.
“I think it really is a pipe dream,” he said. “In the next couple days, you think about all the stuff you’ll buy, then come Saturday you throw tickets away and move on.”
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 303 million, but Robinson said he’s sure he will win.
Kesher Alexander has been playing for 10 years.
“I’ve been hearing people who don’t even gamble, talk about how big it is and the chance to win and how great it would be, because of COVID, and the things that have happened, and rebuilding life right now,” she said at OT foods on Tuckaseegee Road.
Alexander said her husband was driving when he saw a sign for a lottery game a few weeks ago. The prize amount was so large, he decided to follow his wife’s lead and start playing.
When Alexander buys a lottery ticket, it’s typically a scratch-off ticket. Alexander said she waits until she settles at home to scratch the ticket. It’s a sort of “ritual,” she said.
“I just sit down and I come to a zen place,” she said.
Aaron McClure said he’s increased his ticket purchases to a few hundred dollars a week because recent jackpots have shot up.
McClure said he knows his chances of winning are “slim to none,” but he has had his successes.
His co-worker at a plumbing company, Bobby Phillips, said he won $500 when he was 18, and the win got him hooked. Now, he is in several group chats with people who pool money together to buy tickets, he said.
Friday’s Mega Millions drawing will be held at 11 p.m. The cash option stands at $747.2 million.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot is $1.537 billion, won on Oct. 23, 2018, by a South Carolina woman who wished to remain anonymous. She took home a one-time payment of $877,784,124, The State of Columbia reported.
What readers say
Earlier this week, the Observer asked readers why they’re buying a Mega Millions ticket. Here are some responses:
▪ “So I can quit my mind-numbing job, buy up a huge part of the world’s rainforests and protect them forever, donate to conservation organizations, pay off school lunch debt for poor kids, pay off debts of friends and family. If I have any left over after that, I’d love a huge French chateau in the middle of the woods...with a moat...and a wall, that I’d fill with beautiful paintings and as many Rembrandt Bugatti sculptures as I could lay my hands on.”
▪ “My grandmother was born in 1916 and her family suffered greatly during the Depression. In her later years she would buy a lottery ticket (then $!!) and say “You can’t buy much for a dollar these days, but you can buy a week’s worth of dreams.” I think of her whenever I buy a ticket.”
▪ “I only play when the jackpots are high, like the recent megaball. I do enjoy dreaming of what I would do should I win.”
▪ “Its fun to dream!”
This story was originally published July 29, 2022 at 1:29 PM.
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