Global Schadenfreude and a Billion-Dollar Daydream: The Mega Millions Jackpot as International Therapy
The Mega Millions jackpot has swollen to that cartoonish, Scrooge-McDuck-pool figure again—$1.05 billion this time, give or take a rounding error that could still buy a small Balkan republic. Somewhere in Los Angeles a single ticket is now the golden Willy Wonka wrapper for the largest U.S. lottery haul in 2024. Cue the polite international…