What if the $900 Million Winner Came from Gilboa, NY

Imagine for a second if the person who won tonight's $900 million dollar Mega Millions jackpot was from a place the size of let's say Gilboa, New York.

Enter your number to get our free mobile app

The thought only popped into my head because with a population of roughly 1,200 people, it's comparable in size to Lonaconing, Maryland where the $730 million dollar Powerball jackpot winner on Wednesday was from.

Lonaconing is a coal mining town hit hard in recent years.  Jobs disappeared in the trucking and rail industries when the paper mill shut down operation in 2019.  Needless to say, Lonaconing was due for some good fortune, and they sure got some on Wednesday.  There's no way of knowing what the $730 million dollar winner will do with the money, but let's hope that all 1,200 Lonaconingers get to live a bit of a better life as a result of their good fortune.

Makes me wonder what life would be like if on Friday, the $900 million dollar Mega Million jackpot winner was from a place like Gilboa, New York.  Gilboa is a small town in Schoharie County and they had a cotton mill once that was a big part of the local economy, but it was destroyed 150 years ago by a massive flood.

Do a Tripadvisor search Things to Do in Gilboa, New York and the Top 5 things are: The Gilboa Museum.   And that's it...there aren't 5.   Obviously there are other things to do in Gilboa like go to Clarkes Restaurant and Bar or check out the Conesville Country Store, hike, snowmobile, or ice fish.

On Friday afternoon, I called the Sunoco Gas Station just outside of Gilboa. This is the place where they would - in theory -  sell the lottery ticket, if anyone were to win it.  I spoke to a very nice lady named Julie.   She told me they were quite busy and that a lot of people were buying Mega Millions tickets for Friday nights massive jackpot.

I told Julie that I was writing a story about what it would be like if Gilboa had the $900 million dollar winner.   I asked how something like that would impact the community and she was quite thoughtful in her response.

"If I ever won the money I would stay here," she told me.  "And I think most people who live here would do the same," she said.

But what would they do with all the money?

"I think if that if a Gilboa resident won, they'd buy things like presents and toys for the kids to make everyone feel good...they'd wanna make people happy," she proudly explained.

I loved that answer.

Tonight, I'll be playing the Mega Millions just like everyone else in the Capital Region and I don't expect to win $3 let alone $900 million.

But if a winner does happen to come from New York, and it is the Capital Region, fingers crossed they're from the tiny little town of 1200 people known as Gilboa.