Mega Millions Drawing

Mega Millions Drawing, A historic $540 million jackpot is up for grabs Friday as the Mega Millions lottery is living up to its name. The jackpot, which lottery officials are calling “the largest lottery jackpot in world history,” has captivated the nation, caused long lines at convenience stores and has many dreaming of creative ways to quit their jobs if they were to get the lucky numbers.

“Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing will truly be a spectacular event in lottery history and provides an unprecedented opportunity for players to take a chance on a half-billion dollar dream for just the $1 price of a ticket,” said Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery and lead director for the Mega Millions group.

Sales have skyrocketed at Manhattan Tobacco, a New York convenience store, said cashier Alex Shanahe. He said the store has proven to be lucky as it’s sold winning tickets of $3 million and $5 million.

“The sales have tripled. Everybody wants to win the Mega Millions,” Shanahe said.

The Mega Millions’ jackpot reached $540 million Thursday, the biggest for any lottery. Winners can choose to receive annual payments or get a lump sum of $389 million if they pick the cash option.

The drawing will be held Friday at 11 p.m. ET, and it can take several hours for lottery officials to determine if there is a winner and what state the winning ticket was purchased.

The Mega Millions lottery is played in 42 states plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, lottery officials say.

The odds of winning the jackpot is about one in 176 million, which means you would have a better chance of getting struck by lightning.

Myra Langford, a 70-year old retired school administrator said she knows the odds but still bought five tickets.

If she wins, Langford said she would help fix the roof of her church and move out of the cramped Queens apartment she lived in for the past 47 years.

Mega Millions Jackpot

Mega Millions Jackpot, The gambler’s clock was ticking on Thursday as Mega Millions broke a new record of $540 million, the biggest jackpot for any lottery. The drawing is scheduled for 11 p.m. on Friday, ET. Tickets will be on sale, for $1 each, until 15 minutes before the drawing, according to Carolyn Hapeman, spokeswoman for Mega Millions and Powerball in New York.

The record jackpot would be doled out in annual payments, if that’s the option chosen by the winner — or winners, as the case may be.

The winner could also pick the cash option. The lump sum would be considerably smaller, at $389 million, though the reduced cash value is still one of the biggest jackpots ever.

The second-largest Mega Millions prize was for $390 million in 2007. The jackpot was split by two separate winners — a married couple in Woodbine, N.J., and a truck driver in Dalton, Ga. — who each picked the same combination of six winning numbers.

A similar situation happened last year with the third-largest Mega Millions jackpot of $380 million. That prize was split by two winners: a married couple in Ephrata, Wash. and a woman in Rathdrum, Idaho.

Mega Millions Lottery Results

Mega Millions Lottery Results, The Mega Millions jackpot, the biggest lottery award in the game’s history at an estimated $500 million, has millions of people dreaming, however ridiculous the odds may be.

The odds of getting struck by lightning are about one in 280,000, according to the National Lightning Safety Institute. The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot for the next drawing on Friday are estimated at about one in 176 million, according to lottery officials. Though that bolt from the sky may strike you more than 500 times before you hit that jackpot, it’s still fun to dream.

Some people claim to have strategies to increase your chances at lottery games, but mathematicians say there is little you can do to win Mega Millions.

Watch more on “20/20: Lotto Frenzy: Be Careful What You Wish For” Friday at 10 p.m. EDT.

The $500 million prize has a cash option of $359 million, the estimated jackpot based on national sales up to the time of the drawing, according to the official Mega Millions website. Mega Millions drawings are held Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 p.m. EDT.

Matthew Vea, an army reservist and programmer, created a website four years ago that tracks the Mega Millions numbers that have and have not been drawn.

Mega Millions

Mega Millions, There were no tickets sold with all six numbers in the latest drawing of the multi-state Mega Millions lottery and the estimated jackpot for Friday’s drawing will grow to $60 million.
Five tickets — two each sold in California and Iowa and one in South Carolina — had five numbers, but didn’t have the Mega number.

The two sold in California are each worth $114,403 and the ones sold in Iowa and South Carolina $250,000 each, a California Lottery official announced today. California law requires most major payoffs of lottery games to be paid on a pari-mutuel basis.

The numbers drawn Tuesday night were 3, 15, 31, 36, 53 and the Mega number was 27. The estimated jackpot was $50 million.

The drawing was the sixth since the last time a ticket with all six numbers was sold.

The odds of matching all five numbers and the Mega number is 1 in 175,711,536, according to the Mega Millions website. The overall chance of winning a prize is 1 in 40.

The Mega Millions game is played in 41 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Winning The Lottery

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She was a mother of three living in a small apartment and working four jobs. And then, as if in a fairy tale, she won her state’s lottery last year. But the story doesn’t have the happy ending you might expect.

She didn’t do anything overly extravagant after the $1.3 million got slashed in taxes. She bought a house, got a new wardrobe at the Salvation Army, cut work down to just one job and invested the rest.

And then came the phone calls: promises, marriage proposals, accusations, threats. People who used to volunteer to help her do things wanted money for their trouble. Family members, she says, tried to run her life, and control her money.

“Sometimes I wish I could change my name and go somewhere and hide,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified to prevent further attention.

It’s fun to think about what you would do if you played lottery numbers that brought in millions of dollars. But, disillusioning as it may seem, big winnings can come with big costs, especially because of the greed of others, experts say.

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