$212M Mega Millions jackpot brings out the hopeful
Greg Smith heard the figure $212 million on the radio Tuesday and decided to swing into a Shell station off Ga. 400.
He was among the many Georgians buying lottery tickets for a chance at an eye-popping Mega Millions jackpot.
It’s a chance — however slim — at a personal stimulus package when a lot of folks could use one.
“I’d get my kids through college,” said Smith, of Cumming, asked what he’d do with his winnings.
“Retire,” said Carlos Reyes, a regular at the Shell. He bought five tickets.
“I don’t need nothing right now,” said retired Ford worker Ralph Nolan, stopping at a QuikTrip in Norcross. But he said it sure would help him take care of seven grandchildren.
A single ticket matching all six numbers in Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing would be worth $212 million, before taxes, if the player chose to receive winnings in an annuity, lottery officials said.
A “cash option” payout would be a single payment of about $137 million, before taxes.
The jackpot for the twice-weekly game has rolled over 13 times, building in value, since Jan. 16, when a winning ticket was sold in New York.
Georgia lottery officials say the sour economy has slowed sales growth but not reversed it. Revenue in the second fiscal quarter of this year was up $13 million from the same period of 2008.
“We certainly think if the economy was strong, our sales would be stronger,” spokeswoman Tandi Reddick said.
“Lottery tickets are an entertainment product, not a necessity,” she said. “The economy impacts our business as it does other organizations that offer entertainment products.”
She said new games and big jackpots like Tuesday’s keep people buying.
Besides Georgia, Mega Millions is played in Virgnia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Washington state and California. To date, there have been 92 Mega Millions jackpot winners, with 11 winning tickets sold in Georgia.
There were few lines in front of lottery counters in Decatur Tuesday morning. Managers at groceries and gas stations expected things to kick into gear after work Tuesday.
One exception: the Shell station at North Decatur and Clairmont roads. Manager Andy Jiwani said he had help with his sales from the nearby restaurants.
“People are sending their waiters in to buy for them while they eat,” said Jiwani, who said he sold about $100 worth of tickets during the breakfast rush. “I don’t even see their faces and they are buying.”
In Kennesaw, Jerry Honea, 65, used $10 in scratch-off ticket winnings to buy 10 more tickets including six chances at Mega Millions. Fellow buyer Danny Colburn, of Marietta, bought his usual single “quick pick” ticket and tossed it in his truck until after the drawing.
“If it’s meant to be, it will only take one,” he said.
Smyrna resident John Boyd, a maintenance worker at a senior apartment community, said he will “take care of family and do charity work” if he wins. “And I’d like to help my church, Providence Baptist.”
Boyd bought six tickets.
Annette Hill, of Decatur, hoped for some divine intervention on the front end as she stood in line for tickets at the Peachtree News Stand in downtown Atlanta.
“Actually, I feel blessed,” she said, asked if she felt lucky. “So I’m hoping to win.”
But Roger Schuppert, also of Decatur, was done with games of chance after buying a scratch-off ticket and winning zilch.
“I need to stop buying these,” he said. “I don’t have any more money.”
— Nancy Badertscher, Alexis Stevens, Shane Blatt, April Hunt, Steve Visser and Mike Morris contributed to this story.