DREAM BIG! Millionaire hopefuls line up for Mega Millions tickets at a newsstand near Columbus Circle yesterday. With the jackpot at a record $540 million, ticket buyers were swarming vendors across the city. (Dan Brinzac)
It’s the $540 million frenzy.
Mega Millions mania swept the city yesterday — enticing everyone from the penthouse to the poorhouse to take a shot at a mind-boggling world-record $540 million jackpot.
Millionaire London lawyer Jane Mecz, 58, wasn’t taking any chances, dropping $20 on tickets at the Lexington Avenue Candy Shop after shopping with her sister at the upscale Peter Elliott boutique on Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side.
“I flew in this afternoon, and my husband said, ‘You have to play Mega Millions, because you never know.’ I’m a lucky person, I win something at the Grand National every year,” she boasted, referring to the annual horse race in England.
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Asked what she’d do with the dough, Mecz, a vice president and assistant general counsel for JP Morgan Chase in London, said: “I’d retire this year but do it quietly. I’m very happy with my life, but it would be nice to have that extra security in a crazy world where no one has financial security.
“I have horses, and I’d spend more time with them and take lessons to improve my riding.”
At the other end of the economic spectrum was homeless Jeanie G., 51, who waxed about her more modest dream at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Times Square.
“I have no money, but I’m buying two tickets. My life would be better. I would own New York!“ said Jeanie, who added that she has lived on the mean streets of Manhattan for two years but scraped together $2 to buy tickets at a Hudson News stand.
And she vowed to spread the wealth to others less fortunate.
“I would take care of a lot of people,” she said.
Chris Ramos, 42, and Emily Dietrich, 27, of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, collected money from pals to plunk down $500 at Bedford Exotics on Bedford Avenue.
Ramos is high on winning.
“I’d buy all [the store’s] drug paraphernalia . . . But I don’t do drugs,’’ he insisted.
“I like the aesthetic, and I’d hand them out to people on the street,” he said of the colorful glass pipes.
Dietrich said, “We put out a Facebook message: ‘Hey, you guys want to do this?’ ” and the money from friends came pouring in, with 25 people throwing in $20 each.
Cable-company worker Joseph Mossa, 24, of East Meadow, LI, forked over $120 for tickets for his office pool, which lost a member on March 12, when former colleague Stewart Torrance died of brain cancer.
“He was 53. He played in the pool for over 10 years, so we kept him in it, and if we win, it will go to his widow and two sons. They’ve struggled to make payments on their house,” Mossa said. “It’s been hard on them, and we want this for his family.”
Tristan Wheelock, 28, a photographer from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, said he would fulfill a dream by somehow booking a flight to outer space.
Afterward, “I’d buy an island for sure and a few homes,” Wheelock said. “Maybe I’d spend my Saturdays giving away $100 bills on the street just to see what would happen.”
Also among the dreamers was Illi Armijos, 31, the athletic director and basketball coach at Grace Church School, which is opening next fall in Brooklyn.
“I’d buy my school a $10 million gym. I want to win championships in a new gym,” he said.
Rusty Glasser, 27, of Brooklyn said he’d buy fancy cars, because it beats the other option — stealing one.
“I want a Maserati, an Aston Martin, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari. I’ve always been into cars. And this is better than stealing a car, which is what you think about when you’re younger,” Glasser said.
Flatbush teacher Marva Millington, 50, said she would use her millions to honor her mom.
“When I win Mega Millions, I’m going to open a domestic-violence center in my mother’s name, Clarissa Rebecca Millington, because so many women are abused, including myself. This is something we need,” she said.
Heartland Brewery bartender Justin Biondo, 41, bought $60 worth of tickets.
“I’m going to buy a bar. I’ll still be bartending, but only two days a week. The only difference is I’d own the bar,” Biondo said.
Wall Street tax lawyer Spencer Melder of Manhattan was going away for the weekend after buying his tickets — and vowed to stay away for good if he wins.
“I’ll be in Louisiana this weekend. So if I win, I won’t be coming back,” he said. “I’d have to get a house in south France.”
Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts and Kenneth Garger
The drawing: 11 p.m. tonight in Atlanta
Last call: You can buy tickets until 10:45 p.m. today.
Lump sum after taxes: In NY, $257,517,000, in NJ, $250,380,000, and in Conn., $266,370,000
Odds of winning: 1 in about 176 million