Lotto-Craze Hits Sonoma County

Um, I was in the grocery store this morning, and everyone — I mean the little old lady with the walker, the produce guy and the dude with a huge dog by his side — was talking about the lottery!

And my dad, who is a lottery freak (he spends like $50 a day, not kidding), told my sisters and I that we have to play. The Press Democrat is reporting today the same thing — that people who have never played the lottery are playing now! How about you? Have you played the lottery this week?

"The jackpot, which is estimated at a world-record $640 million as of Friday afternoon, could give one lucky winner a lump-sum payoff of about $460 million when numbers are drawn tonight," the article stated.

Have you noticed the lines, snaking around snack food racks at local liquor stores and at local grocery storess? What would you spend the money on, even if you won just part of the jackpot?

Yeah sure, as the Press Democrat points out, "the odds of winning are a paltry one in 176 million, which explains why no winner has been drawn in 18 previous attempts and why many people balk at taking part."

But come on, this is for fun! Let's see who has the best idea...