Colorado Parks And Recreation Agencies Are The Biggest Winners In Lottery Sales
(CBS4) - The next Mega Millions drawing is on Jan. 22 and it will be for an estimated jackpot of $970 million. The Powerball drawing is Wednesday night with an estimated jackpot of $730 million. With the combined jackpot of almost $1.7 billion, it's no wonder why people would go to a convenience store and try out their luck.
"I would pay off all my debts and then I would invest in stocks," said Roberto Lerma, who was buying several lottery tickets and and agreed to talk about it in an interview with CBS4.
The odds at winning the jackpot come with almost impossible odds to win. Try one in 302 million.
"The odds are very long to win the jackpot, but I think that's part of what makes it so appealing is that, if you are the lucky one and someone will win it at some point, they know they've beaten incredible odds. And the reward will be great," said Tom Seaver, Director of the Colorado Lottery.
No matter who wins the draw, the biggest winners aren't the ones with winning tickets, but the three beneficiaries from the ticket sales. Great Outdoors Colorado, the Conservation Trust Fund and Colorado Parks and Wildlife all get a cut of the ticket sales.
The COVID-19 pandemic initially cut into the costs.
"We lost about 20 to 25 percent over what we were expecting during that time period. But, since the lockdown, we've bounced back very strongly in the late spring and summer and had our second best year ever," Seaver said.
According to Seaver, Colorado Lottery made $639 million in ticket sales in 2020. Which is why the people smiling the most aren't waiting for the lottery balls to drop their way.
"That would be so cool if someone from Colorado won the jackpot. But, regardless if someone from Colorado wins, you know, with the amount of money that goes into the proceeds, everybody is going to win from this jackpot rollout because a lot of money is going to go into parks and recreation," Seaver said.
