Fast food founder buys $100,000 in lottery tickets, says he’ll share winnings with employees

Lottery figurines
Praying for a lotto win?
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Employees of Raising Cane’s fast food franchise are really hoping their boss wins the Mega Millions jackpot this week.

Founder Todd Graves has bought 50,000 tickets (shelling out $100,000) in hopes of cashing in on the jackpot. If he wins, he says, he plans to split the $810 million prize among the company’s 50,000 employees.

Odds are, should he win, Graves will take the $470 million cash option. Even with a projected tax bill of $113 million, that would leave $357 million to be split, working out to over $7,000 per employee in the case of an even split.

“As soon as we heard how big this jackpot prize is, we couldn’t miss out on the chance to win the Mega Millions jackpot and share it with our Crew who always stand together,” Graves said in a statement. “None of what we do at Cane’s would be possible without our Crew, which is why we are always looking for ways to bring them a little extra fun, and if we’re lucky, a surprise on Wednesday morning.”

Before those workers start making plans for the money, a bit of a reality check: The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot currently stand at more than 302 million to one.

To put that in perspective, here are the odds of a few other life-altering events:

  • Dying in a shark attack: 1 in 7 million
  • Being stuck by lightning twice: 1 in 9 million
  • Winning an Olympic medal: 1 in 662,000
  • Becoming a saint: 1 in 20 million

Of course, crazier things have happened. The odds of catching two foul balls in a row? One in a billion.

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