About half of Mega Millions sales goes to prize payouts, 35% ends up in state coffers, and 15% is for retailers who sell the tickets and lottery operating costs.

WSJ: Keeping Cool With (Mega) Millions

The sales price is used as a lure to get people into the store for the mega discounts and hopefully buy a few more things at regular marked up prices.

FORBES: Have American Shoppers Lost Their Minds?

And, D, the Super Bowl is so corporatized, it's all giant mega-companies have hospitality tents and they give away the tickets to their best clients or their best sales people for that given year.

NPR: Six Days to the Super Bowl. Start Warming the TV

But sales are still collapsing despite a planned welcome-back sale in June while the competition, principally rival mega-discounter Wal-Mart, is stretching its lead.

BBC: Kmart losses persist