8:15PM EST November 28. 2012 - Powerball's $550 million jackpot is enough to make even millionaires try their luck for Wednesday night's drawing.
It seems you can't walk through the Miami Dolphins' locker room without bumping into someone talking about what they'd do with their millions. And some players aren't just buying a handful of tickets.
"I might get 1,000 of them," linebacker Kevin Burnett told The Miami Herald.
Defensive end Jared Odrick wanted in as well, opting for a strategy as good as any other.
"I might buy 100," Odrick told The Herald. "Dead serious. I might sit there all night tonight at 7-11 and get the numbers that come to me, that come to my head. Just start marking numbers down like Rain Man."
POWERBALL: Jackpot at $550 million
And it's not just NFL players getting in on the fun. Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson posted a picture on Instagram of his tickets (along with the best "winning face" we've seen so far), claiming he bought 100.
Of course, this all pales in comparison to Washington Wizards forward Chris Singleton spending $10,000 on Mega Millions tickets for a $640 million prize in March and coming up empty. But hey, fiscal responsibility has to start somewhere.
Should any Dolphins player win, surely their comparatively paltry (but still exorbitant to the rest of us) salary could go toward another cause, right?
"Hell, no, I can't play for free," Dolphins cornerback Sean Smith said jokingly (we hope). "Matter of fact, if I won I wouldn't tell anybody until I got my second contract. I want my fair deal. They might try to give me a six-year, $250,000 contract."
Winning could become an ordeal (albeit the best kind) for a number of athletes, such as Larry Fitzgerald. The Arizona Cardinals wide receiver bought three tickets and promised to divvy up his winnings with anyone who shared his Facebook post. It's unclear whether a Facebook share really holds up as a contract, but he's going to have a mess on his hands when he has to split $4 between 15,000 people.
As for what we would do with the prize? Buy however many ACC Championship Game tickets a $550 million jackpot will get us. What do you mean there aren't that many seats in the stadium? Get building, John Swofford!
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2012/11/28/miami-dolphins-athletes-powerball-lottery-tickets/1733351/