Patch Poll: What if You Had Won the Lottery?

Somewhere in Illinois, Maryland and Kansas there is someone nearly $219 million rich. Three people hit Friday’s Mega Millions lottery jackpot.

The largest U.S. lottery prize jumped to $656 by the time of the drawing, after the frenzy of ticket buying ended in the 42 states, the District of Columbia and the U. S. Virgin Islands, where Mega Million tickets are sold.

One of the winning tickets was sold in downstate Illinois.

"This is what the lottery is about. You risk a small amount of money, and it's long odds, and it happens to a person who walks into a Motomart in Red Bud, Illinois that wins $213 million," Illinois State Lottery Director Mike Jones told ABC7 News. (The amount was higher at the end of the selling period.)

"Around the country, we were selling tickets at the rate of about a million dollars a minute," ABC7 News reported Mega Millions Director Gary Grief said.

Days before the lottery drawing, the media reported on the 1 in 176 million chance of winning. With those odds, you were more likely to get struck by lightning, get hit by a falling plane or date Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt (depending on your preference).

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But indulging in the fantasy of what you would do with all that money is a form of entertainment. What if I am the big winner? What would I do? Many people’s first thoughts: pay off the house and save for the kids' college education.

But what else do you do with the millions left over? Answer today’s poll and tell us.

If you win a big lottery, you could build a 3D movie theater in your home. But that is if you are among the 19 percent who said in last week’s that they favor 3D movies. Eighty percent chose the answer: I look silly in 3D glasses, the movies aren't any better, and I'm not going to pay extra to watch one.