Mega Millions tix sell at $4M per hour

As the day wore on, the dreamers came out in droves.

Tickets for the record-breaking $640 million Mega Millions jackpot were selling at a rate of $4 million per hour in New York Friday evening, New York Lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman said.

Earlier in the day, the pace was $1.5 million per hour, and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. it was $3 million per hour, Hapeman said.

The frenzy over the nation's largest lottery jackpot ever is expected to be sustained until 10:45 p.m. Friday, the deadline for tonight's 11 o'clock drawing, Hapeman said.

The afternoon rush hour never ended at the Melville 7-Eleven on Route 110 and Ruland Road, where cars were queued on the street for parking as customers lined up 10 deep or so for tickets despite two cashiers manning the lottery machines.

Until 7:15 p.m., Rocky DePaul and 10-year-old daughter Nikki of Lake Grove were lottery novices. DePaul said he didn't even know how the game worked when he stood in line and asked for $10 worth of numbers.

But, fresh from attending a wedding, DePaul said, he felt the pressure to join the Mega madness after he learned about it from friends close and far: "I've had people text me from Oklahoma, asking me 'Did you get your ticket?' Tickets for what?"

Two young French men, in this country to manage an engineering project, also squeezed in time for 10 tickets before rushing to Manhattan.

One of them, Hugo Patchouli, was just positive he was not going to win anything to bankroll vacations and cars. But, he said, "It was funny to dream about what we could have."

Since Tuesday's drawing, when no winning tickets were sold, the jackpot has bumped three times from $363 million to $500 million; $500 million to $540 million; and $540 million to $640 million.

"Bumps" in large jackpot games are common because of excessive ticket sales, lottery officials say.

The jackpot has grown since Jan. 24, the last time someone won, according to Mega Millions. The odds of winning? About one in 176 million.

When the jackpot was just $540 million, Mega Millions had touted it as the largest in world history. In fact there was at least one larger: Just last month an entire village in Spain hit a $950-million jackpot.

Regardless, Friday's $640 million jackpot certainly makes U.S. history.

The cash option payout for a single winner is $462 million; or the winner could choose taking 26 annual payments of about $24.6 million, lottery officials said.

And then there are the taxes -- 25 percent federal, 8.82 percent New York State and local, if applicable.

With Patricia Kitchen