Mega Millions, mega hopes, mega letdowns and even mega indifference: The recent record-breaking jackpot of the Mega Millions lottery caused a national uproar last week as the prize money exceeded $600 million.

Tenita Williams, full-time Road Ranger employee, said customers close to campus were no exception to the hype, and described seeing an unusual amount of lottery tickets sold last week.

“Usually they just come in to get drinks or whatever, but now there’s definitely been an increase in sales,” Williams said.

Williams said she has noticed when the jackpot amounts start getting extraordinarily big, people start buying more tickets.

Some students did not buy into the craze.

Shenay Rivers, junior marketing major, said the lottery can be a fun, easy way to gamble, but she would rather focus on more important purchases.

“I have other things to pay for,” Rivers said.

One Mega Millions ticket costs $1, but sophomore finance major Andrew Phillips said the chances of winning are so slim that even that small price can be too much to buy these tickets all the time. However, he said he does buy one every now and then and would consider purchasing more often when the jackpot gets big.

According to the Mega Millions website, about 50 percent of every $1 played goes into the prize.

With so many people participating, the odds of winning grew smaller and smaller. Before winners were announced, sophomore education major Lisa Oates said people don’t need to play into something like this so much.

“Money can’t buy happiness,” she said.