Lotto tempts Maricopans with nearly $1 billion

Time to round up those lucky numbers.

The Mega Millions jackpot inches closer to $1 billion, meaning a lucky Maricopa resident could become an instant millionaire as soon as Friday night.

The multi-state lottery game’s potential payout sits at $910 million, making it one of the largest possible jackpots in history, according to The Associated Press.

Odds of winning the pot are long at worse than a 1 in 300 million chance. You’re far more likely to be struck by lightning this year — a 1 in 1.2 million chance, according to the National Weather Service.

But if you won, you could buy a ticket for every person in America to see The Boss Baby: Back in Business at an AMC theater Saturday.

Long odds haven’t kept Maricopa residents from daydreaming about a lucky ticket. Some told InMaricopa they hoped to no longer worry about bills.

Dena Fisher would “pay off everything, then take a nice vacation,” she said. “Everything else can wait.”

Some had the community in mind. Maricela Ortiz said her first order of business would be to open a dog sanctuary in Maricopa.

Others had more creative ideas.

“I would buy all the Crocs in the world, buy a huge shredder and destroy them all,” wrote Jaimie Morano. “I would also buy a kitten.”

While Maricopans have yet to take home the winning prize in a national lottery, the city has seen some big winners in Arizona Lottery games.

In 2022, the QuikTrip on John Wayne Parkway sold a Fantasy 5 ticket worth $320,000. And two years earlier, Fry’s Marketplace in Maricopa sold another Fantasy 5 ticket worth $135,000.

The largest Mega Millions jackpot ever topped out at $1.537 billion in 2018 with a winning ticket sold in South Carolina. Not bad for a $2 purchase.