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Here's what you could buy if you won a billion dollars on Friday's Mega Millions drawing

If you're from East Tennessee... you're going to like this list.

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!

Mega Millions hits $1 billion jackpot

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:

  1. Like hockey? With a billion dollars you could buy the Nashville Predators...six times!
  2. Maybe basketball's your sport...why buy Thompson-Boling Arena when you could build it yourself...11 times.
  3. 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.
  4. 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).
  5. 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!
  6. 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!

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