Mega Millions Fever
APPLETON, WI - Mega Millions fever gripped the nation tonight. $640 million dollars was up for grabs, the world's largest jackpot, ever. The winning numbers? 46, 23, 38, 4, 2, and megaball 23. Today in Wisconsin people have been snatching up tickets to the tune of 5,000 per minute! At Festival Foods in Appleton earlier today, the majority of the people were buying tickets for the first time.
Appleton Resident, Carey Sorenson said "We're going to pick some of our own and then we're going to probably buy a couple and let the machine pick." Sorenson never bought a ticket before. "I'm going to let my nephew help me pick some numbers because I do tend to play roulette a little bit and his number is 26."
Wisconsin Lottery Director, Mike Edmonds, said that mentality is not unusual, especially with a record breaking jackpot. "Last year, the Wisconsin lottery, for the whole year, took in $502 million dollars. Here we've got $640 million riding on one night."
Sorenson said, if she won, she would've given most of it away. "I recently started to tithe to church more, so I probably would give a lot of it to my church." Beverly Blair of Appleton said "I've always tried. Never won. But who knows!"
That's what makes the Mega Millions Jackpot so popular; the hope of striking it rich and living the good life. Just to give you an idea of what odds folks are up against, you're 176 times more likely to get hit by lightning, than win the jackpot. But at a buck each, many folks say "what have you got to lose"?
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