KNOXVILLE — Okay, so lets say you found out after watching the Mega Millions drawing Friday that you beat absurdly impossible odds and just won a billion dollars... that's a lot of cash!
Now if we're REALLY dreaming, let's also pretend we live in a magical world where taking the lump sum still pays in full and taxes don't obliterate your cool $1 billion down a meager $341 million (Tennessee won't tax it, at least).
So... how do you actually spend $1 billion? Here are some options:
- Like hockey? With a billion dollars you could buy the Nashville Predators...six times!
- Maybe basketball's your sport...why buy Thompson-Boling Arena when you could build it yourself...11 times.
- How about a trip to Dollywood? You could buy a season pass for the next 8.4 million years! Or, you could buy passes for everyone in Tennessee and still have over 200 million left to spare.
- Okay, you're a billionaire... you deserve a puppy. You could adopt four million puppies from Young Williams Animal Center (that's a little over a year's worth of the total number of shelter animals taken in across the entire country).
- Of course, money can't always buy love and happiness... but even billionaires have to pay for weddings. Don't worry, you have the cash to cover the deluxe 6-hour wedding package at Ijams Nature Center for your next 444,000 marriages!
- You're going to need a place to put all that money, so why not just grab Tennessee's largest house: the Villa Collina in Knoxville? Last time, it was listed for just over $14.9 million. You could cover that, and have $985 million to spare . In which case, maybe the entirety of the Biltmore Estate is more to your tastes. It would actually put a dent in your winnings, valued at an estimated $300 million.
But enough day dreaming... let's talk odds. Odds of winning the big prize are one in 302 million. Odds of being struck by lightning are only 1 in 3,000. So if you do win, maybe stay indoors for a while!