Mega Millions Earns $ 1.537 Billion Jackpot: A Ticket Wins, South Carolina

A winning ticket was sold for the record Mega Millions jackpot, for less than $ 1.6 billion . The winning ticket was purchased in South Carolina.

The six winning numbers were drawn on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, lottery officials said in a statement that the jackpot was worth $ 1.537 billion, more than $ 50 million less than the estimated $ 1.6 billion jackpot.

Spokesperson of the Lottery on the l & # 39; South Carolina education, Hollis Armstrong, told CBS News that CBS News was in charge of the media still do not publish the address of the point of sale that sold the winner – nor even the city or county. She cited "security procedures".

Armstrong stated that it was the first Mega Millions state jackpot. His previous record in the lottery was a $ 399 million jackpot.

The South Carolina lottery officials also stated that the winning ticket holder (s) had 180 days to claim the prize and remain anonymous. The retailer where the ticket was sold will get a cut of $ 50,000 once the price is claimed.

The tickets had to match the five white balls on Tuesday night as well as the yellow Mega Ball to win the jackpot.

Grand Prize winner Mega Millions says 36 tickets were awarded to the five white balls to claim $ 1 million apiece. They were purchased in 17 states and in the District of Columbia. The Texas winner and one in Florida included the Megaplier option, which makes $ 3 million each.

The winning numbers of the Million Tuesday

• 5, 28, 62, 65, 70 and Mega Ball 5
• Megaplier 3x

The cash value of the jackpot was $ 878 million, a preferred option by most of the winners. Otherwise, the jackpot is distributed over 29 years.

If no one matched Tuesday's numbers, officials say the next draw would have been about $ 2 billion.

It will be held on Friday night, but not later. A jackpot of 40 million dollars.

The Mega Millions jackpot had been on the rise since July, when a group of office workers in California had won $ 543 million.

Mega Millions offers more than 302 million possible combinations. Lottery officials were expected to sell 75% of them by Tuesday night when John Crow, host of the Mega Millions announced the winning numbers.

"One million dollars is changing lives, but a billion dollars is extraordinary," Crow told CBS News. "So, this enthusiasm, this enthusiasm that emerges now is what is the strength of this jackpot."

Mega Million Notes are sold for $ 2 and are sold in 44 states in Washington, DC and the US Virgin Islands.

Mega Millions' previous record jackpot was $ 656 million, shared between winners from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland. The draw was held on March 30, 2012.

The World Record Jackpot remains a $ 1.586 billion Powerball Prize, with three tickets awarded in January 2016 from California, Florida, Tennessee. A previous record holder was another Powerball jackpot, in August 2017, of a $ 758.7 million win, won by a single Mbadachusetts ticket holder.

Powerball will hold its draw Wednesday night for a jackpot estimated at $ 620 million or a cash value of $ 354.3 million.

It will likely take several days or even weeks before a winner will win the prize, the Associated Press says, adding that "lottery officials and financial managers encourage people to take the time to define an investment strategy, their hundreds of millions of dollars and the winners must face security problems worthy of a person who suddenly has immense wealth.According to the state, the winners are between 180 days and one year to claim their prize. "

Winners may remain anonymous in seven US states in addition to South Carolina, but in the rest, the names of the winners are made public.

The size of Tuesday's jackpot is part of the rising trend of the biggest Mega Millions and Powerball have changed their rules and have extended the probabilities of seeking better sales, notes the AP.

Odds of Winning

The chances of winning a jackpot remain catastrophic at 1 in 302.5 million for Mega Millions and 1 in 292.2 million for Powerball .

Who buys lotto tickets?

About two-thirds of Americans play. Last year, they spent $ 72.97 billion in traditional lottery tickets, according to Gallup.

On average, this represents $ 206.69 per person. "Our obsession with lotteries, with games of chance, is this unicorn feeling like," Maybe it will be me, "said CBS News economic badyst Jill Schlesinger.

She reports that some people do not necessarily play to win.

"They just want to take a moment of their day to think about how to dream big," said Schlesinger.

The average American spends about $ 223 a year in lottery tickets, according to a survey by LENDedu Mbadachusetts residents have the greatest taste for playing the odds, spending nearly $ 763 a year in lottery tickets, according to the study. North are the opposite, spending about $ 44 per year on the lottery, the lowest average number of residents in the 50 US states.