Monday, Mar. 27, 2000

Numbers

By Melissa August; Val Castronovo; Matthew Cooper; Lisa McLaughlin; Julie Rawe; Alain Sanders; Flora Tartakovsky; Chris Taylor and Josh Tyrangiel

$6 billion Estimated amount gambled annually in office pools

100 billion to 1 Estimated odds of picking all 63 games in the NCAA tournament correctly

311 U.S. Border Patrol agents stationed along the 3,987-mile border between the continental U.S. and Canada

7,761 Border Patrol agents along the 1,933-mile border between the U.S. and Mexico

458 Criminals placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since its creation in 1949

429 Most-wanted criminals who have been apprehended or located

$42.4 billion Estimated amount that will be spent on weddings this year, with an average cost of $18,874 per wedding

$19.1 billion Estimated amount that will be spent on wedding gifts, with an average cost of $85 per gift

Sources: New York Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, CNN.com USA Today, Bride's magazine