Winning Numbers For $640 Million Mega Millions Jackpot Announced
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Mega Millions jackpot skyrocketed to $640 million before Friday night's drawing, which was conducted at 11 p.m.
The winning numbers are 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 and the Mega Ball is 23.
The new top prize, a $100 million increase from Thursday, was announced on the Mega Millions website around noon on Friday.
1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reports
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The massive jackpot seemed to have just about everyone daydreaming. From private jets to a house in the Hamptons to buying a new Lamborghini, Tri-State Area residents have big plans for the money if they are lucky enough to hit it big.
"I think I'd pay off my debt as much as I could, then I'd probably buy a house for myself and my parents," Partricia Bustamante told CBS 2's Cindy Hsu.
Others said they would act as good Samaritans and help as many as they could.
"I wouldn't live the rich life like the rich folks live. I would swear to the heavens I would help as many people as possible. That's what I would do with the riches," one man told CBS 2's Derricke Dennis.
Lottery hopefuls flocked to Lindenhurst, where three stores within a mile of each other have all sold winning tickets.
One of the stores, Maulik & Chandni stationary on Montauk Highway, is where 20 Costco employees won a $202 million Powerball jackpot last June.
WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reports
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Owner Mike Patel said it feels great to be known as the lucky store.
"I like it," he said. "I have always been lucky in my life and I could bring that out to the store."
Friday morning, Costco worker Tom Flake bought $760 in Mega tickets for a 38-member office pool at Linden Quick Mart in Lindenhurst.
"We're the ones that lost," Flake said. "We're going to win this time."
Flake and his co-workers are hoping to be the second group from Costco to win big.
Experts say with a jackpot this large, it's also more likely that there could be multiple winners. Sharing the top prize with only one other person cuts $30 million out of your winnings. The lump sum of the jackpot is about $462 million. After taxes, it comes out to $347 million.
So what do winners typically do with their jackpots? Dartmouth economics professor Bruce Sacerdote surveyed Massachusetts lottery winners in the 1980s.
"A large chunk of people keep working, 40 percent of the people are still in the labor force," he said. "They save at least 16 percent of the money. They use it to pay down debt. Divorce does go up a bit."
Sacerdote said the study was done on those who won smaller jackpots, not more than a half billion dollars. When it comes to your odds of winning the top prize, Sacerdote said you only need one ticket.
"If your chances are almost zero, it's really about the thought that you might win," he said.
The odds of winning Friday night's jackpot are roughly 1 in 176 million.
To compare, the odds of becoming a Saint are 20 million to 1, while the odds of becoming president are 10 million to 1. You would also have better odds of being struck by lighting 500 times or see an asteroid strike the Earth in 2029.
Eleven players in New York and two in New Jersey matched five numbers after Tuesday's drawing, but not the Mega Ball, earning them $250,000 each.
The last time Mega Millions was even close to this size was back in 2007. The jackpot then stood at $390 million and it was shared by two winners, in Georgia and New Jersey.
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