Mega Millions $1.1 Billion Jackpot: 5 Things To Do With The Cash

ACROSS AMERICA — Millions of Americans have decided it’s OK to dream, snapping up Mega Millions lottery tickets with visions of the things they’ll buy, the people they’ll help or the debt they’ll pay off if they win the now $1.1 billion jackpot in Friday night’s drawing.

Someone has to win, right?

The jackpot is ticking toward record territory. It’s currently the third-highest in U.S. lottery history and the second-highest in Mega Millions' 20-year history. By the time the 11 p.m. EDT drawing rolls around Friday, the jackpot could eclipse the $1.5 billion prizes won in 2018 and 2016.

The cash payout — the option most jackpot winners pick — is $648.2 million in Friday’s drawing. That’s not chump change.

Here are five things you could do with that amount of money:

You could buy your own private island. The 26-acre Pumpkin Key island off the Florida Keys listed for $95 million has a three-bedroom home, two caretaker cottages and a dock master’s apartment. You can spend another $10 million or so for a big, fancy yacht — the 20-slip marina can handle it — and still have close to half a billion dollars left for more fun things.

Like expensive art, fancy cars or a Major League Soccer team

NFL, NBA and NHL teams costs billions of dollars, but the jackpot winner could buy a National Soccer League team, according to Forbes, which calculated the value of the Atlanta United team at $500 million. Others aren't worth as much.

Even with a cash prize of more than $500, the jackpot winner wouldn’t have enough money to acquire “Mona Lisa” — not that the Louvre Museum in Paris has any interest in selling the Leonardo da Vinci painting that has been part of its collection since 1804. The masterpiece was valued at $100 million in 1965, and with inflation, it would have been worth $860 million in 2021.

In 1962 the masterpiece was assessed at a value of $100 million. Once we take inflation into account, that would be the equivalent of $860 million in 2021.

Another famous da Vinci painting, “Salvator Mundi,” would be within the jackpot winner’s grasp if the current owner — reportedly Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (who is accused by the CIA of ordering the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi) — were willing to part with it.

The painting was supposed to go to the Lourve for an exhibition marking the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death, but it sold for $450 million at a 2017 auction at Christie’s New York.

A winner could spend a fraction of the cash payout on fancy cars. A private collector paid $143 million for a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé earlier this year, according to Barron’s, a financial and investment newspaper published by Dow Jones and Co.

The car is one of two prototypes Mercedes-Benz built. It had been in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, where the second prototype will remain. The luxury automaker said it plans to use the proceeds from the sale to fund scholarships.

And speaking of that: A jackpot winner more inclined toward philanthropy could pay off federal student loan debt for about 17,200 Americans. About 43 million borrowers have federal student loan debt, averaging about $37,667 per student.

No Jackpot Since April

Although no one claimed the jackpot in Tuesday’s drawing, several players did win lower-value prizes by matching some of the winning numbers — 7-29-60-63-66. The Mega Ball number was 15 and the Megaplier number was 3x.

Those winners included a $2.9 million ticket sold in California, where the player chose the correct Megaplier number. Another ticket sold in Ohio is worth $3 million because it included the Megaplier.

Mega Millions tickets are available at gas stations, convenience stores and supermarkets in states where the game is played, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Only five U.S. states — Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah — haven't authorized the Mega Millions game.

The largest jackpot in U.S. history was the $1.586 billion Powerball prize shared by players from California, Florida and Tennessee on Jan. 13, 2016. A single player from South Carolina won the $1.537 billion Mega Million ticket on Oct. 23, 2018.

The jackpot has been growing since April 15, when a player in Tennessee won $20 million. Other Mega Millions jackpots claimed in 2022 were in California ($426 million on Jan. 28), New York ($128 million on March 8) and Minnesota ($110 million on April 12).

Overall chances of winning any prize are 1 in 24. The chances of winning the jackpot are much lower — about 1 in 302.5 million. For perspective, the odds of being struck by lightning are less than 1 in 1 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.