There hasn't been this much excitement over a late-night ball drop since New Year's Eve at Times Square. Friday night, at the stroke of 11, six orbs (five white, one gold) will separate from a mixing drum in an Atlanta TV studio, as the nation braces for the results of the record-breaking $500 million Mega Millions (yes, a half-billion!) lottery.
A winning jackpot would be more than 28 percent larger than the largest one to date — $390 million on March 6, 2007. That bonanza was split between a Georgia truck driver and a married couple from Cape May County here in New Jersey.
While you practice your "take this job and shove it" speech and consider which island you will buy with your winnings, here’s a compilation of lottery fast facts and offbeat stories:
HE HAD A LOTTO NERVE
Donna Campbell became suspicious when her husband kept the television turned off, disconnected the phone and received a card in the mail congratulating him on the purchase of his new home. Her suspicions proved correct when she searched the name of her husband and found the airline mechanic won a share of $19 million in the Florida lottery. She filed for a portion of the winnings — and a divorce.
WWBGD (WHAT WOULD BILL GATES DO)
A $500 million lottery win would produce a cash payout of $359.4 million. For $359.4 million, you could buy "The Manor," Aaron Spelling’s old $150 million, 56,500-square-foot home in Los Angeles County (among the 123 rooms are three rooms set aside for gift-wrapping) and drive there in a Maybach 62 sedan, the most expensive new car at $463,000 (10 mpg city). And maybe, just maybe, this fall you might be able to afford a season ticket and personal seat license at MetLife Stadium.
CHECK BACK IN OCTOBER 2015
Tyler Jarvis, mathematics department chair at Brigham Young University, lists examples to show the almost-hopeless odds of winning a jackpot like this. He notes the odds for multi-state lotteries are worse than 1 in 54 million, and that if all the losers for one drawing were to form a line, it would stretch most of the way around the world.
"If you were to read aloud the names of the losing ticket holders for just one drawing, it would take about 3½ years," Jarvis says.
SOOOOOO CLOSE!
In Tuesday night’s Mega Millions, worth $363 million, 47 players missed becoming multimillionaires by one number. Still, by matching five of the six numbers, they each get at least $250,000.
WIDE REACH
Mega Millions fever is alive in lots of places. The game is played in 42 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN?
The number of drawings held since the last time someone hit all six Mega Millions numbers has stretched to 19. The last time someone hit was on Jan. 24, when the jackpot was a paltry $71 million.
SEVENTH HELL
Seven has long been considered the luckiest number. But before it became the Mega Ball number on March 16 (no one hit all six numbers during that drawing), there had been 80 Mega Millions drawings since unlucky 7 was the special number — on June 20, 2011.
MILKING THEIR VICTORY SPEECH
After they won $208 million in the Mega Millions in 2005, Michigan residents Ralph and Mary Stebbins declared they wanted to start a dental clinic to help low-income residents — and to buy a cow.
Star-Ledger wire services contributed to this report.
