Mega Millions lottery ticket sales across Maine and the country have been sizzling this week, driving Friday night’s jackpot to more than $1 billion.

And that is not a typo. As of Thursday night, the jackpot had grown to an estimated $1.1 billion and could climb even higher by the time the winning numbers are drawn Friday evening.

“This has been the busiest two days of my (working) life,” Devin Butler, a clerk in the Nouria convenience store at the Circle K gas station in Falmouth, said Thursday night. Butler, who purchased several lottery tickets, said Mega Millions sales have been nonstop for the past two days, especially since no one won Tuesday night’s $830 million jackpot.

Butler and his co-worker said a man, who purchased Mega Millions tickets earlier in the day made a generous but bold promise – if he were to win. The customer promised to give each Nouria employee $1 million from his winnings.

The $1.1 billion prize is for winners who choose the annuity option, paid annually over 30 years. Most winners opt for the cash option, which for the drawing Friday night is an estimated $648.2 million. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million.

To provide some perspective:

• The odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime – defined as 80 years – are 1 in 15,300, according to the most recent data from the National Weather Service.

• The odds of being bitten by a shark are less than 1 in 4 million, according to the University of Florida.

•  The annual risk of being killed in a plane crash for the average American is about 1 in 11 million, according to the PBS show “Nova.”

• The odds of being killed by a meteorite is about 1 in 250,000, according to Tulane University environmental sciences professor Stephen A. Nelson.

MainePublic reported that the jackpot grew to more than $1 billion because no one has matched the game’s six selected numbers since April 15. That’s 29 consecutive drawings without a big winner. Tuesday’s numbers were: 07-29-60-63-66, Mega Ball: 15. Friday’s Mega Millions will be the second largest jackpot in the history of the game and the fourth largest for any lottery game in the nation.

Mark Johnson of Portland purchased four Mega Millions tickets Thursday night at Nouria. Johnson, who works in information technology, said he typically doesn’t play the lottery. But if he were to win, Johnson said he would not quit his job.

“I would help my family with their expenses,” Johnson said.

Mega Millions ticket sales at the Circle K convenience store and gas station on Route 1 in Freeport were sizzling Wednesday and Thursday. While most of the customers who came into the store, which is not far from L.L. Bean and the town’s busy shopping district, were purchasing gas, beer or cigarettes Thursday night, sales have been surging, employees said.

“Everyone is so excited. They’re all hoping to hit it big,” said Circle K employee Christy Emery, of Lisbon.  Emery said she bought five tickets for herself. If she wins, she would help her mother renovate her home; help her sister, who is expecting, with expenses; donate some money to charity; and probably buy herself a new car.

Shila Roderick, who lives in Freeport, said the buzz over the game and its staggering jackpot has piqued her interest. She was thinking about purchasing a few Mega Millions tickets Thursday night.

When asked what she would do with such a sum of money, Roderick didn’t hesitate.

“I’d buy my mother a new house,” she said.

According to the Mega Millions website, Friday’s drawing will be held at 11 p.m. If someone wins Friday, they would become the second largest prize winner in the 20-year history of Mega Millions. The record prize of $1.537 billion was won on Oct. 23, 2018, in South Carolina and remains the world’s largest lottery prize ever won on a single ticket.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The game is coordinated by state lotteries. Drawings are held each Tuesday and Friday. Half of the proceeds from the sale of each Mega Millions ticket remains in the state where the ticket was sold.

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