$1.02 billion Mega Millions jackpot has sales clerks bracing

Jul. 28—What would you do with a billion dollars?

That's something people across 45 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands are pondering as as the multi-state Mega Millions lottery approaches its $1.02 billion grand prize drawing.

Convenience stores in Stillwater have had people lined up at times this week to buy lottery tickets. And Tuesday only became more hectic for cashiers as the Mega Millions drawing for $830 million approached.

"Yesterday was insane," Cowboy Corner sales clerk Brendan Goad said. "It was definitely more than I've ever sold before in a day."

He expects business to pick up again Friday with another, larger drawing scheduled.

OnCue clerks Noah Dighton and Alex Clopton said sales always pick up when the jackpots get higher, especially the last three days before numbers are drawn.

They're seeing a growing excitement among their customers as the big Mega Millions drawing approaches and they're bracing for another busy day at the end of the week.

"We had 3-4 straight hours of lottery ticket sales yesterday," Dighton said.

"It was bad," Clopton added.

The Mega Millions payout topped $1 billion after Tuesday's drawing failed to produce a winner for the $830 million jackpot. It has swollen as week after week passed since April 15 without anyone matching all six numbers.

CBS News reported that nine tickets had matched the first five numbers without matching the Mega Ball. Those ticket holders won $1 million, while another person who sprang for the Megaplier got $3 million.

Even if you match all six numbers, you'll only get the full amount if you take payment as an annuity with 30 annual payments, otherwise you'll have to get by on $602.5 million.

But don't put a deposit on that superyacht just yet.

The lump sum cash payout requires withholding 24% in federal taxes, which Forbes calculated as roughly $144.6 million. Depending on their deductions and dependents, the winner could owe another $78.3 million, leaving them with $379.6 million before paying state taxes. Still not a bad payday.

People can watch Friday's drawing live at 10 p.m. CDT on the Mega Millions YouTube channel.

The lottery in Oklahoma

Almost 20 years ago, a battle raged over establishing a lottery in Oklahoma. It was finally approved by voters in 2004.

The Oklahoma Lottery launched with four scratcher games in 2005, added Pick 3, a draw game, later that year and added Powerball, its first multi-state game, in 2006.

Oklahoma began selling Mega Millions tickets at the beginning of 2010 after an agreement was made that allowed state lotteries to sell tickets for both Powerball and Mega Millions.

Seventeen after its launch, the Oklahoma lottery offers a total of seven draw games and 55 different scratchers.

The key to selling the lottery in a conservative state like Oklahoma was emphasizing the benefits for public education, former Oklahoma Lottery Commission sales and marketing director Beverly Hughes, told a gathering of business communicators in 2007.

"We have done consistently well," Hughes said, "With about $315 million in sales and more than $92 million going to kindergarten-12th grade public schools, college tuition grants and scholarships, endowed chairs and the teacher retirement system.'"

The Journal Record reported at the time that the program needed to sell $218 million in its first year to generate $65 million already appropriated by the legislature for education. It sold $242 million in ticket sales the first year.

At the time, from every dollar generated by lottery ticket sales, 30% was set aside for education as required by state statute, six percent paid commission to 2,200 retailers, 52% was paid out in prizes and 12 percent went to operations.

In 2019, Oklahoma Policy Institute reported appropriations from the Lottery Trust Fund were divided as follows:

$31.4 million for the K-12 school funding formula

$3.5 million for the School Consolidation Assistance Fund

$3.5 million for the Teachers' Retirement System

$3.8 million for Career Tech

$27.6 million for higher education

In 2020, the Lottery Commission announced the ticket sales had made it possible to deposit $1 billion into the Oklahoma Education Lottery Trust Fund.

The lottery's contribution to education has held steady at about $70 million per year, according to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, but hasn't been able to completely offset other lost sources of revenue.

"The lottery grows state revenue by inches, while lawmakers have been pruning off yards," Gene Perry wrote in the Oklahoma Policy Blog.