big Lotto Jackpots

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Dobbs2

You won $150 if you played the Lost numbers.

[stevew]

Friday's MegaMillions has a payout of 500m, or a cash option of 359 million. I think this has to be the largest lottery payout in US history. Obviously not when adjusted for inflation, however.

[MacroGuru]

Yeah...and my small little office just did a pool for it for Friday...and of course I am buying my own ticket as well....

[Kodos]

Perhaps it is time to make another small investment for the sake of entertainment.

[Karlifornia]

This story was in the paper yesterday. It's just weird on multiple levels.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-...ce=most_viewed

When Emily Leach stopped by Liquor & Tobacco, a convenience store in Mountain View, before Friday's drawing for the lottery's Mega Millions jackpot -- then worth $290 million -- she was already a kind of celebrated figure at the store after winning $1 million on a lottery ticket she bought there in January.
Her recent good fortune allowed her to perform random acts of generosity for strangers, so it wasn't completely out of character when Leach offered $100 to one of the men waiting in line behind her as she turned in an armload of Scratchers cards. During that transaction, she either unintentionally handed the stranger a Mega Millions ticket she had just bought, or made him the lucky recipient of some truly astounding generosity.

Just how generous became apparent Sunday. That's when Leach learned a lottery ticket purchased while she was in line had hit for $260,000. The still unidentified man she gave the $100 returned to the store Saturday to say he had the ticket, and according to Leach, to claim that her good luck had rubbed off on him.
There was just one problem: Leach insists she never intended to buy the lottery ticket for him, and she wants it back.
"That's my ticket," Leach said. "He knows it's my ticket. I feel like I'm going to come off as a huge, huge bitch if I say, 'You need to give me my ticket back.' "

But that is what she's saying. The state


lottery commission's security department is investigating, and may use the store's surveillance video to sort out the situation.
"She said she had the ticket in her hand and maybe it got mixed in with the money she gave this person," said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the lottery commission. "They're going to look at the video and see if she's the one actually buying the ticket. If no one else is in the picture, that puts things firmly in her favor."
The ticket holder still had not come forward to lottery officials as of Monday.
"It's a miracle for one person to hit twice at the same store," Leach said. "What are the odds of someone like me hitting it once in January, and again less than three months later?"
According to the lottery commission, the odds of her winning $1 million in January were 1 in 1.2 million; because of the number of players, she had only a 1 in 3.9 million chance to win Friday. The combined odds against winning twice in three months are simply off the charts.
She has faced even more daunting odds. A nurse at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto, she was diagnosed with a pancreatic tumor at a time when she had no health insurance. "I went into the hospital on a Sunday three years ago, and I woke up two months later," she said. "I had been in a coma, and the doctors told my mother to plan my funeral."
After getting threatening calls from bill collectors, Leach's sudden prosperity became both blessing and curse. She was able to pay off more than $300,000 in medical bills.
But she also turned into a soft touch. "There have been plenty of negatives," she said. "Everybody knows everything about me, and everybody has their hand out."
Before Friday's drawing in the Mega Millions lottery, Leach stopped by the store that has brought her so much luck -- good and bad -- to buy more lottery tickets. The man in line behind her to buy beer seemed to know her life story.
"He said, 'You're so lucky,' and then he started crying and said his gas tank was on empty, and he really needed help. So I gave him a hundred-dollar bill. I told him, 'Don't buy any more beer. Do something good for yourself.' "
Leach said that with all the Scratchers tickets in her hands, as she fumbled in her purse for the money -- trying not to show how much she was carrying with her -- she pulled out the hundred-dollar bill and a lottery ticket together. What remains in dispute is whether she intended to hand both pieces of paper to a man she had never met.

On Sunday, Leach went back to Liquor & Tobacco and was told a ticket had hit for $259,269. She says she was told by the clerk that the man whose beers she bought had returned Saturday, and credited her with buying the ticket for him. "That never happened," Leach insisted. "If you look on the surveillance video, in the time frame the ticket was bought, I am the only person that paid for anything in that store."
Lottery business was booming at the store Monday, where owner Young Pham said he planned to turn over the tape to investigators in the next few days. Leach said if the ticket holder does "what I think is the right thing," she would continue to be a generous person. "I think he should give me the ticket back," she said. "If he were to do that, I certainly wouldn't take it and just walk away."

[Logan]

I doubt her story holds up.

[dave731]

I am buying $10 worth of tickets for the first time in forever...

[Scoobz0202]

Up to $640 Million, will probably go up again prior to the drawing?

I can't wait to be a millionaire.

[JediKooter]

If I win it, I'll buy everybody here, something. Now if your profile hasn't had any activity in the last 3 months, you get NOTHING!!!

[sabotai]

*signs in all of his alts just in case*

[stevew]

I'm not sure what else I'd spend money on after I make a Godfather offer in Brighton, Michigan

[sabotai]

With the amount of tickets sold, I'm not sure if it's possible that a winner doesn't happen tonight. But if there isn't a winner, the jackpot is going to grow to $975 million, and will probably get to over a billion by Tuesday.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by sabotai

With the amount of tickets sold, I'm not sure if it's possible that a winner doesn't happen tonight. But if there isn't a winner, the jackpot is going to grow to $975 million, and will probably get to over a billion by Tuesday.

Take this with a grain of salt because I saw a random person on another forum say this.

They said that they know somebody with the lottery and that as of about five hours ago 92% of the number combo's were sold.

[Matthean]

Typically when it gets this big you get three winners with one of the winners being a group of people.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by sabotai

*signs in all of his alts just in case*

Good move my friend. Good move...

[tarcone]

I bought $2 worth of tickets. Im set.

[sterlingice]

I decided not to because the line at the grocery store was too long for a couple of hours worth of cheap thrills

SI

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Take this with a grain of salt because I saw a random person on another forum say this.

They said that they know somebody with the lottery and that as of about five hours ago 92% of the number combo's were sold.

That's an amazing amount of money that they are raking in then for this. A lot of casual people, like myself, probably add to that. Before tonight's drawing, I had never bought a megamillions ticket before.

[Autumn]

Yeah they make a great deal on these mega jackpots because the chances of anyone winning, never mind *me* winning are infinitesimal. I mean lottery tickets are already kind of silly, I realize. But on these mega ones most weeks nobody wins, which means you can't even say "well somebody's gotta win".

[sabotai]

The cash option is $462 million. I wonder what that comes out to after taxes.

[molson]

If I win I'm going to add both Showtime and HBO to my DirecTV package.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by sabotai

The cash option is $462 million. I wonder what that comes out to after taxes.

Looking at the Mega Millions site, in Indiana, you would owe 25% in federal and 3.4% state tax. I could live comfortably on 71.6% of $462M.

SI

[Kodos]

Root for me. If I win, I will pay 2K sports to make a rival for Madden.

[Lathum]

If I win I'm going to develop tcy 2

[molson]

So nobody is going to admit out loud that they'd just buy a bunch of Vietnamese sex slaves and blow the money in 2 years?

[Scoobz0202]

I don't know what types, but hookers are a given. The convenience will be nice when I'm traveling the world non-stop.

And a dump truck of cocaine.

[Scoobz0202]

dola -

I REALLY hope nobody wins. I want to see a billion dollar lottery. And the frenzy it causes.

[Racer]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

dola -

I REALLY hope nobody wins. I want to see a billion dollar lottery. And the frenzy it causes.

+1. That would be awesome.

[JonInMiddleGA]

If I win I'm going to be the first winner to sound like they have a brain at the press conference

"Ahem. Thank you all for coming. Before I take any questions I just have a small announcement to make. {removes rolled up list from pocket, let's it trail to the floor & roll about four feet across the podium} The following people can kiss my rich white ass ..."

[britrock88]

Anybody thinking of buying an NHL team?

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Root for me. If I win, I will pay 2K sports to make a rival for Madden.

If I don't win, I hope you do!

My wife stated that if she won, she would continue to teach. Me? Oh, I have a feeling I'd be calling in sick Monday.

[Scoobz0202]

[dave731]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

dola -

I REALLY hope nobody wins. I want to see a billion dollar lottery. And the frenzy it causes.

If I do not win, then I will be in favor of this!!

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If I win I'm going to be the first winner to sound like they have a brain at the press conference

"Ahem. Thank you all for coming. Before I take any questions I just have a small announcement to make. {removes rolled up list from pocket, let's it trail to the floor & roll about four feet across the podium} The following people can kiss my rich white ass ..."

This kind of disqualifies you from being smart. I figure I'd claim the award via proxy/trust and then do the random fuck you's, although I suppose you'd have a bigger bully pulpit.

[dave731]

Originally Posted by britrock88

Anybody thinking of buying an NHL team?

I have considered buying the Carolina Hurricanes as well as the Atlanta Braves!

[stevew]

Originally Posted by britrock88

Anybody thinking of buying an NHL team?

I'm buying a chunk of the Pirates. Pretty much the only MLB team you could buy a decent sized percentage of.

[ColtCrazy]

I think I would buy a lower level English soccer team and add a ton of money to them to bring them up....a real life FM game.

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

I think I would buy a lower level English soccer team and add a ton of money to them to bring them up....a real life FM game.

[dave731]

I won $2! Ok...lost only $8 total!

[sabotai]

I didn't even win $2. In fact, the random number gods gave me an extra middle finger. I still had my numbers from last Friday's drawing, and if I had the same numbers tonight, I would have won $150.

[ColtCrazy]

Best I got was 2, which is nothing. Oh well. So much for making a power out of Yeovil Town.

[molson]

I only missed by 4 numbers and the powerball. (Edit: "Mega Ball", whatever)

Ah well, better just go double on the ponies tomorrow to make it back.

[Kodos]

Out of my five tickets, I did hit one number.

[MacroGuru]

Damn I missed the draw....anyone know the numbers? The sites aren't updated.

[k0ruptr]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

And a dump truck of cocaine.

Charlie Sheen, and his groupies would be quick to follow.

[Kodos]

2, 4, 23, 38 and 46. The Mega ball selected was 23.

[JPhillips]

So much for my speech outlining all the flaws in my administration. Mybe next time.

[BillJasper]

Won $5! If no one hits tonight I'll just put it back in for the next drawing.

[tarcone]

I got one number right on each of my cards.
Do I win anything?

[EagleFan]

Oh well, so much for that drawing... Fun dream while it lasted (would have bought a minor league sports team; after hooking up all my family and friends).