VALHALLA, N.Y. There may be a new overnight multi-millionaire on Friday, and Mount Pleasant residents are coming out to make sure their name is in the drawing.
Theres definitely been a lot of people coming out to buy a ticket, probably triple the amount of our typical lottery tickets, said Michael Phillip, owner of Valhalla News in Valhalla, in regards to Fridays Mega Millions jackpot. Its probably only going to get crazier Friday as it gets closer to the drawing.
The Mega Millions will hold their next drawing on Friday, March 30, at 11 p.m. For the last drawing on Tuesday night, 47 ticket buyers including 11 in the state of New York chose five out of the six numbers correctly. But no one picked all six to win the jackpot, totaling $363 million. That jackpot price rose to an estimated record-high $540 million for Fridays drawing.
Lottery players are superstitious of the numbers they play, and even more so where they buy their ticket. Phillip said Valhalla News has had success in the past with lottery winners.
Weve had a few second and third place winners in some drawing before, Phillip said. But never a jackpot winner, maybe this is our time.
Phillip added that he himself is participating in Fridays drawing, buying tickets in a pool with a group of friends.
But not everyone is buying in to the lotto dream of hitting it big and retiring. White Plains resident Lucrecia Manette, who was having lunch with some friends in Mount Pleasant Thursday, said she wont be playing in Fridays drawing.
I just think that the odds are so against you, Manette said. I have a couple friends here that are convinced theyre going to win one day so if Im out with them they may convince me to buy a ticket but I just think the chances of winning are outrageous.
Lottery officials estimate the chances of winning the jackpot are 1 in 175 million, more than 500 times the chances of getting struck by lightning.
As for mathematical strategies for increasing your odds, Phillip said there are none.
Theres no real strategy for picking the numbers, you just have to play, Phillip said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice and receive free news updates.
