Tonight’s drawing for the $1.35 billion prize in the Mega Millions lottery is the fourth largest in U.S. lottery history.
The odds? You know they’re slim—one in 302.6 million, to be precise—but the payoff is eye-popping. No one has won the lottery since mid-October, resulting in the high total.
Sure the tax bill will be steep, and if you want the full prize, it will take you three decades to collect it. But, suddenly, you’d be able to buy whatever you want. The question is, where do you start?
Let's make a few assumptions before we begin our fantasy shopping spree. Let's assume the winner opts for the cash payout of $707.9 million. After the federal government takes 24% of that in taxes, that leaves the winner with about $538 million. You’ll owe more for state taxes, of course, but let’s ignore that for right now.
Okay, ready to go shopping? Here's what you can get:
A private island or two: Rangyai Island, near Phuket, Thailand, is a 110-acre land mass with fresh water, an electric generator and, most importantly, mobile service. It has been on the market for more than six years, with an asking price of $160 million. If you’d like something closer to home, Pumpkin Key, a 26-acre island off the Miami coast, comes with a three-bedroom house, two caretakers’ cottages, and a dockmaster’s apartment. It costs just $95 million. (Heck, get both!)
A high school reunion in space: Want to really show up the jerks from your youth? Tickets on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin go for about $1.25 million apiece (at least, that’s what MoonDAO paid to ride the suborbital rocket). With your lottery winnings, you could take the whole class (in shifts, of course). An alternate idea? Become a frequent flier yourself.
Your own Boeing 777: Look, first class is fine for some people. But sometimes you just don’t want to bother with other passengers. Boeing’s 777 variants cost between $410 million and $442 million. That will ferry you and all of your friends wherever you’d like to go. You’ll even have enough left over to take pilot lessons.
A bird’s-eye view of Central Park: You’re a bit late to buy “The One,” the 21-bedroom, 49-bath Bel Air megamansion that sold last March for $141 million. But fortunately, on the other side of the country, the penthouse at Central Park Tower on New York’s Billionaires’ Row is still available. With an asking price of $250 million, this 17,545-square-foot domicile covers three floors, has seven bedrooms and 9.5 baths, along with multiple kitchens and a 1,433 square-foot-outdoor terrace.
A personal Lollapalooza: Front-row concert seats give you a great view, but why not hire a few of your favorite bands to put on a private show for you and your friends? $Six million will reportedly get you the Weeknd, Ariana Grande, or Bruno Mars. Coldplay charges about $1.5 million, as does Post Malone.
A pro sports team: You probably can't afford a major league team with your winnings, sorry. And buying an NFL team is way out of the question. But über sports fans can spend some of their winnings on a minor league baseball team. (And, honestly, those games are a lot more fun.) Step one is finding a team affiliated with an MLB team you love, then make an offer. Last year, sports and media giant Endeavor sold nine teams to private equity firm Silver Lake for $280 million.
Tacos for the rest of your life (and several lives after that): Prefer to live a simple life? That's doable too. Your winnings will pay for just over 216 million Crunchy Taco Supremes at Taco Bell. If you chow down on 10 tacos a day, you’ll have enough for a little over 59,000 years.
