Community Corner

UPDATE: Hope Reigns in Park Slope to Win the Mega Millions Jackpot

With a world record of $540 million, the 42-state Mega Millions lottery is tapping into people's sense of hope.

UPDATE: March 30, 4:25 p.m. The Mega Millions Jackpot is now at $640 million. 

The lottery speaks to the American belief of starting over: the chance to create a new life. Or, as Alec Baldwin’s character, Jack Donaghy, from the TV show 30 Rock, says to Tracy Jordan, we have the ability to "change our headline.”

Now, with the 42-state Mega Millions jackpot at $540 million, a historic record high, who knows, you may win.

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Hold on a second, with a 1 in 176 million chance to win big, you probably won’t.

But probability and statistics aren't deterring hundreds of Slopers—some of whom just want to play in the biggest jackpot ever, have dreams to win big or have been pressured by all the hype—from buying their tickets.

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On Seventh Avenue and Union Street at the Park Slope News Stand on Thursday, hordes of people streamed in to buy a chance to win big.

Andrew Gayle, who lives on the other side of Prospect Park, bought a Mega Millions ticket on Thursday night, as the jackpot for the 42-state lottery accelerated past the $500 million mark.

“I don’t usually play this one, but this is one of those situations that you can’t win if you don’t play,” Gayle said, who explained that he usually plays percentages and has won $4,600 from scratch-offs in the past seven months. “And in all truth, I’m spending $2 and you just never know.”

But still, he said he won’t be holding his breath for Friday night's drawing, which could bless a lucky ticket holder with a post-tax payoff of about $390 million, according to USA Today.

Paul David, who bought seven tickets for the biggest jackpot ever on Thursday, won five out of six numbers in 1981 for $3,000. And although he doesn’t expect to win, he said that he doesn’t expect a lot of things in life to happen.

“Yes, I don’t expect to win, but I hope to,” David said, a Park Slope resident. “I don’t expect to die tonight either, but you never know.”

David did not buy a ticket because he believes he will win. He said if he was following his gut or following statistics, he would not have even bothered. Instead, he took hold of the American belief in starting over, the fantasy that at any given moment, you can change your life for the better.

“The lotto is kind of like the poor man’s fantasy: the dream that you can circumvent years of hard work and strike it rich,” David said. “You hear people winning the jackpot and that makes you feel like you can win too.”

And this sentiment is why millions of people around America have been flocking to buy tickets, to try their hand at chance, to see if the random rules of the universe may bless them with picking the same numbers that will be on those six random and rattling Ping-Pong balls on Friday at 11 p.m.

But, at the end of the day, David isn’t playing to win, he isn’t playing because he is full of hope and dreams, but rather to participate in history.

“Mostly, I’d feel remised if I didn’t play,” David said. “At least I can say that I played in the biggest jackpot ever.”

If you want to buy a ticket, do so before 10:45 p.m. tonight, Friday, March 30. 


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