Bay Area Lottery Fans Get In On Record Mega Millions Game; Jackpot At $640M
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - The prospect of winning more than a half-billion dollars in the Mega Millions lottery has Bay Area residents snapping up tickets ahead of Friday night's drawing.
Friday, organizers of the multi-state Mega Millions game announced the jackpot had grown to $640 million.
"Everybody and their sister is buying tickets so you gotta play against everybody else," reasoned Dustin Stevens as he stood in line at the Hot Wok Express on San Francisco's Battery St. "But you know, it makes it fun and exciting. I can daydream about what I would spend the money on."
"Yeah, my co-worker just sent out a mass e-mail that said twenty bucks gets you in and if we win then we can all quit our jobs on the same day," laughed a woman in the same line as Stevens.
KCBS' Anna Duckworth Reports:
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In fact, there were quite a few people in that line Thursday afternoon. Store owner Ken Kwong estimated he was selling 3,000 tickets a day for the past week.
Not surprisingly, he was rooting for his customers to strike it rich - especially considering the store that sells the winning ticket collects a tidy sum, too.
"I was told about $1 million," said Kwong. "That's pretty good, huh?"
"That's all you can say, you know, good luck," he recounted his conversations with customers. "Everybody knows what the odds are."
The odds, by the way, of winning the record-breaking $640 million jackpot? About 1 in 176 million.
KCBS' Anna Duckworth Reports:
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