Who wants to be a billionaire?
Massive lottery jackpot
They may need to change that M to a B.
The already record-high Mega Millions jackpot ballooned to a whopping $970 million on Thursday — and is on track to potentially eclipse the billion-dollar mark as lottery fever grips the city and beyond.
“It’s like the Olympics or the World Cup, where word of mouth spreads and people think, ‘Maybe I’ll stop and grab [a ticket],’ ” said Brad Maione, spokesman for the New York State Gaming Commission. “Sales have been pretty significant over the past few days.”
That’s putting it mildly: Between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday, nearly $800,000 worth of tickets flew out of newsstands, bodegas s and liquor stores, each for a roughly 1-in-302.5 million shot at an instant fortune.
“If sales continue the way they are, and interest continues to build . . . we may cross that [billion-dollar] threshold,” said Maione of the windfall, already the largest in Mega Millions history, and the second-richest pot in US lottery history behind a $1.6 billion Powerball haul split by three winners in 2016.
With dollar signs in their eyes and Empire State Building-size dreams in mind, New Yorkers spent Thursday buying the $2 tickets early and often ahead of the 11 p.m. Friday drawing.
“If I win, the first thing I’ll do is hire a private security firm to protect me from all my long-lost relatives that are sure to come out of the woodwork asking for a handout,” said Benny Saunders, 35, buying a ticket at Roshan Candy & News in Gramercy.
“After that, who knows? I’ve never even thought of what I’d do with a million dollars, let alone a billion dollars.”
One Bronx package courier had much clearer plans for the mindblowing prize, starting with taking the $548 million instant payout rather than the $970 annuity.
“I’ll take the lump sum and flee the country, buy myself a gated villa in the South of France and just stay holed up inside there for the rest of my life,” said Dennis Knight, 42.
“I’ll only leave the compound to ride around in my yacht.”
And if they can’t win themselves, here’s a lottery hopeful all New Yorkers can root for: The MTA.
“The senior leadership has an office pool,” with all proceeds going to upgrade the subway system’s aging signaling system, MTA spokesman Jon Weinstein told The Post.