Mega dreams for tonight’s $325M lottery drawing

LYNN – Cal’s News has sold seven winning Mass Cash tickets worth $100,000 apiece and one $500,000 Megabucks winner, but the big ticket has eluded owner Barry Calvani and his father, Paul.”We’ve never sold a million dollar Mega Millions. It’s a running joke with my customers. They come in and buy a ticket and say, ‘I’m doing it for you,'” Calvani said Thursday.Calvani and other state Lottery agents will have to wait until tonight to find out if they sold the winning ticket to Friday’s Mega Millions drawing worth an estimated $325 million. The lump sum cash option is an estimated $204.6 million before income taxes are deducted.Simons Uniform employee Eric Botelho bought 70 Mega Millions tickets Thursday for a pool of 14 Simons workers hoping to cash in big. The group throws dollar bills into a pot every time Mega Millions climbs into the stratosphere. Botelho is the designated ticket buyer and good luck charm.”If I win I’ll take care of my family and live off the interest,” he said.Bill Demars has slightly more expansive dreams for his imaginary winnings. He plans to give his five children each $100,000 or so and then take a year off to globe trot.”Then I’ll buy a big piece of land in New Hampshire and ride horses. Eventually I’ll buy a small business,” he said.Calvani’s Lottery sales spiked this week as last weekend’s Mega Millions drawing and Tuesday’s drawing failed to yield winners. With the jackpot growing, he has sold more tickets to first-time Lottery players and larger batches of tickets to groups of coworkers or family members looking to strike it rich together.Cal’s owners receive $50,000 if they sell the winning ticket but Calvani wants a shot at Mega Millions bragging rights.”I don’t want to buy the winning ticket – I want to sell it. It’s all about the seven figures,” he said.