All week, the climbing Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots have been awakening the frivolous dreamers inside of us. Come on, who could resist entertaining some "what ifs" when the money at stake is over a billion dollars?
To recap, no one's won the big Powerball or Mega Millions payout for a long time, so now the jackpots are sinfully high. ThePowerball pot is $430 million, and the top Mega Millions prize is a cool Dr. Evil-approved $1 billion.
Granted, those numbers get pared down a LOT once cash value calculations and good old Uncle Sam get a hold of the winnings. But still, it's an obscene amount of money.
For some context, Taylor Swift'snet worth is reportedly around $300 million. If you win the Mega Millions "billion,", you could take home $565 million and be almost twice as rich as her with absolutely none of the work. Are you familiar withthe Commonwealth of Dominica, a small island country in the West Indies? Their 2017 GDP was $562 million. You could literally be as rich as an entire country.
Even if you won the Powerball jackpot and had to settle for the $248 million cash value payout, like a peasant, you could still be worth 0.82 Taylor Swifts and finally afford a comfortable two bedroom in San Francisco.
The Mega Millions drawing is Friday at 11 p.m. ET. The next Powerball drawing is Saturday.
