Sometimes winning really is everything. Business tycoon Warren Buffett, along with Quicken Loans, is offering a $1 billion prize for anyone who can fill out a perfect March Madness bracket.
Don’t get too excited just yet, though. The chance of someone winning is 1 in 9.2 quintillion (that’s a billion billion). Yet it’s still getting people riled up enough to join as many pools as possible, and Business Insider is calling it a genius marketing move.
If someone were to win, they’d be paid out in 40 annual installments of $25 million. Just like the Mega Millions jackpot, multiple winners will have to share the money. The winner(s) can also choose to take or split an immediate lump sum of $500 million.
Second place, however, is a pretty good deal. Quicken Loans is offering $100,000 each to the 20 participants with the closest “imperfect” brackets to be used for buying, remodeling or financing a home. Jay Farner, President and Chief Marketing Officer of Quicken Loans, says the company is doing this purely for their clients.
“It is our mission to create amazing experiences for our clients. This contest, with the possibility of creating a billionaire, definitely fits that bill. We’ve seen a lot of contests offering a million dollars for putting together a good bracket, which got us thinking, what is the perfect bracket worth? We decided a billion dollars seems right for such an impressive feat.”
While Quicken Loans will be paying out the potential jackpot, Buffett is insuring the company in case someone wins.
The contest starts March 3, with March Madness kicking off March 18.