As the Mega Millions jackpot grows to $1.15 billion without any winners, more people are buying tickets, including those in northern San Luis Obispo County.
Eagle Energy in Paso Robles shared that they've seen an influx of customers during the past few days.
Employee Carmelo said, "Almost every customer that has come in has bought lottery tickets."
Linda Kuber, a Central Valley resident passing through Paso Robles, shared that she doesn't usually play the lottery but chose to buy a ticket when she overheard others talking about the Mega Millions in the store.
"They were talking about how big the prize was," Kuber said." Somebody's gotta win it."
Another California resident, Rumal Yapa, said he doesn't play frequently either but wanted a chance at the billion-dollar prize.
When asked how they'd spend their winnings, they responded with the following:
"Buy my mom a new house," Yapa said.
"Retire and buy a house on the coast," Kuber said.
Whoever wins the Mega Millions on Friday can either take the winnings as a cash payout or a 30-year annuity.
Although California does not tax lottery winnings, the winnings would place the winner in the highest federal tax bracket - 37%.
According to USAMega.com, the cash option would come out to $325 million after taxes while the annuity option would give the winner about $726 million total - about $24 million per year - after taxes.
People in California have until 7:45 p.m. on Friday to purchase a ticket before the 8 p.m. drawing.
