Friday night’s Mega Millions jackpot is expected to hit a staggering $1 billion, continuing a trend of giant jackpots.
It is the second-largest lottery prize in US history and joins 5 other top 10 drawings in the last 3 years.
The previous record of $656 million was set on March 30, 2012. The incredible jackpot comes after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday, October 16 – the white balls 3, 45, 49, 61 and 69, plus the gold Mega Ball 9.
The jackpot has soared since it was last won on July 24, when a California office pool of 11 co-workers shared $543 million, the largest prize ever won on a single ticket in the game. Three other Mega Millions jackpots have been won this year – $451 million on January 5 (FL), $533 million on March 30 (NJ), and $142 million on May 4 (OH).
Lottery officials changed the odds in recent years to lessen the chance of winning a jackpot, which in turn increased the opportunity for top prizes to reach stratospheric levels.
States have generally reported increased Mega Millions and Powerball sales since the change.
A total of 4,527,495 winning tickets at all prize levels came out of Tuesday’s drawing.
There were plenty of winners on October 16 as players from around the country jumped into the game at record levels.
Nine tickets matched the five white balls to win the game’s second prize. One of them, sold in Texas, included the optional Megaplier (available in most states for an extra $1 purchase) and is worth $5 million! The other eight are million-dollar tickets – two were sold in Pennsylvania and one each in CA, FL, GA, KY, NJ and NY.
One hundred tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball for the $10,000 third prize; 12 of those are actually worth $50,000 each because they included the optional Megaplier.
Multi-State Lottery Association security director Eddie Raymond Tipton has been charged with fraud after allegedly hacking the computer that picks the winning numbers.
Eddie Raymond Tipton was arrested in January by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations.
Prosecutors said he had been caught on CCTV buying the winning ticket. The $14.3 million prize was never claimed.
Eddie Raymond Tipton, 51, denies the charges.
Citing court papers filed by prosecutors in the case, the Des Moines Register said Eddie Raymond Tipton “may have inserted a thumb drive into a highly locked-down computer that’s supposed to generate the random numbers used to determine lottery winners”.
The offline computer is housed in a glass room and in theory can only be accessed by two people at the same time. It is also constantly monitored by a video camera.
It is alleged Eddie Raymond Tipton used his position as security director to change the video camera settings and record only one second in every minute. This would have given him enough time to enter the room and plug a thumb drive into the computer.
On that drive, according to the prosecution, was a rootkit: a stealthy computer program designed to do a specific task and, in this case, then erase itself.
That task was to predetermine the winning lottery numbers for the draw that Eddie Raymond Tipton was to later buy the winning ticket for.
As a member of staff, Eddie Raymond Tipton was not allowed to win the lottery himself.
The court filings suggest there was an attempt to claim the prize just hours before it was scheduled to expire by a company incorporated in Belize.
If found guilty of the two charges of fraud, Eddie Raymond Tipton faces up to 5 years in jail and a fine of up to $7,500.
The Powerball jackpot estimated at $500 million has been won by three tickets in North Carolina, Puerto Rico and Texas.
Lottery officials announced the jackpot winners on February 12 on the Powerball website. Officials didn’t immediately confirm the final amount of the prize or which cities produced the winners.
If the jackpot stands at the $500 million estimated on February 11, it would be the fifth-largest lottery prize in US history.
No one had won the Powerball jackpot for more than two months, so the prize grew gradually from its $40 million starting point. That figure is now listed on the website as the current jackpot for the next drawing.
The winning numbers in Wednesday’s drawing were: 11, 13, 25, 39, 54 and the Powerball 19.
Marvin Rosales Martinez, the man who stumbled upon an orphaned $1 million lottery ticket a month after Hurricane Sandy, has finally been awarded the prize money.
New York Lottery officials cut 27-year-old Marvin Martinez a check Friday for the winning ticket he found raking leaves last November in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.
New York Lottery officials cut Marvin Martinez a check for the winning ticket he found raking leaves last November in the wake of Superstorm Sandy
A state gaming commission spokesman told The New York Post investigation failed to identify anyone who claimed the scratch card was stolen or reported it missing.
Marvin Martinez, who immigrated to Long Island from El Salvador six years ago, took a lump sum payment of $779,106. After taxes that comes out to $515,612.
Marvin Martinez, who still lives with his mother in a storm-damaged home, told the newspaper he will keep working six days a week.
Mega Millions jackpot rocketed to $636 million – the second-largest in US history.
Long queues were reported in stores selling tickets, which are available in 43 states.
The current American jackpot record is $656 million – that was split between three winners in 2012.
If no winner is picked in Tuesday evening’s Mega Millions draw, the total could hit $1 billion by Friday.
Mega Millions jackpot rocketed to $636 million, the second-largest in US history
The jackpot was previously estimated at $586 million, but on Tuesday lottery officials increased their prediction due to strong ticket sales.
Undeterred by odds of one in 259 million, large queues of would-be winners formed at petrol stations and convenience stores.
If received in a lump cash sum as opposed to an annuity, the total would be $341 million, a lottery official reported.
Not every winner need necessarily face the standard news conference with the bottle of bubbly and chunky cardboard cheque.
Six US states allow lottery winners to remain anonymous: South Carolina, Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota and Ohio.
In several other states, it is reportedly possible for winners to keep their names secret by claiming their jackpot through a trust or a limited liability company.
Mega Millions jackpot for the next draw on December 17 raised to an estimated to $550 million as no winning ticket was sold yesterday.
The next drawing is slated for Tuesday, December 17 at 11 p.m. ET, according to the lottery’s website, megamillions.com.
If a jackpot winner chose to take that prize, which remains the second largest in Mega Millions’ 17-year history, as a lump sum payout rather than in 30 annual payments it would amount to $295 million, the lottery said.
Mega Millions jackpot for the next draw on December 17 raised to an estimated to $550 million
No one has won the jackpot in more than two months, pushing the purse steadily higher, although it remains below the record $656 million won on March 30, 2012. The next-largest Mega Millions prizes were $390 million and $380 million.
No purchased ticket matched the winning six numbers drawn on what some consider an unlucky date – Friday the 13th – for an estimated $425 million, or $228 million for the annuity option. Those numbers were: 19, 24, 26, 27, 70 and 12.
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Friday night’s Mega Millions jackpot is expected to hit a staggering $1 billion, continuing a trend of giant jackpots.
