SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) — People across KELOLAND have visions of ending the year as an instant billionaire.
Friday night’s Mega Million jackpot drawing has topped $1-billion… its fifth highest total ever… prompting customers to rush to the store to purchase what they hope will be the winning ticket.
Robert Rasmussen says he rarely plays the lottery, but he couldn’t pass up a chance at winning the billion-dollar-plus Mega Millions jackpot.
“I’m pretty conservative. I’ll do about ten. Ten tickets,” Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen says a jackpot this large is hard to wrap your mind around.
“And it’d change your life! But I’d like to give it a go, though,” Rasmussen said.
The odds of winning: one-in-302-million are a little too steep for some people still on the fence about buying a ticket.
“When they have a 50-50 raffle at a basketball or a football game, those aren’t bad odds,” (laughs) Lorin Pankratz of Sioux Falls said.
Still, it doesn’t hurt to dream about all those riches.
“Well, if you’d ask my wife, she’d say I’d probably give it all away. There’s a lot of need out there,” Pankratz said.
The Lewis staff says the lottery jackpot usually has to climb to around $700-million, whether it be for Mega Millions or Powerball, before interest really spikes and customers stream in to buy their tickets.
“I helped a lady yesterday who’d never done it before so I helped her fill out a ticket over there. She said she’d never done it before. But when it gets this high, a lot of people just want to play,” store clerk Teresa Kafka said.
Some players temper their expectations about winning.
“You’d figure that you’re gonna win, but you have to be realistic at the same time,” Rasmussen said.
So don’t start spending your lottery winnings just yet. But some words of encouragement at the counter can’t hurt your chances.
“I’m selling you a winner so everybody can share. Good luck,” Kafka said.
The big jackpot is also a post-Christmas retail windfall for stores like Lewis because many customers purchase other items in addition to lottery tickets.
