Friday, December 23, 2011

$370 Million Mega Millions

$370 Million Mega Millions

$370 MILLION: Mega Millions sets all-time lottery jackpot record

The Mega Millions Jackpot has broken an all-time, worldwide record. It now stands at $370 million and tickets are selling at an amazing rate.

New Jersey officials report Mega Millions tickets are selling in that state at a rate of 700,000 tickets per hour, and that won't even match what they expect during "rush hour." Officials say early evening is when they sell the most tickets, and that's when they expect to hit 1.2 million ticket sales per hour. Sales close at all locations at 10:45 pm. The results will be shown at www.usamega.com minutes after the drawing takes place.

The jackpot is so huge that tonight's drawing has been moved from Atlanta to Times Square. New York Lottery diva Yolanda Vega will be on hand to draw the winning numbers for the historic prize.

The odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 176 million. But there are also secondary prizes, starting from $2 on up. The odds there are about 1 in 40 — which means, of course, you still could parlay your winning back into more tickets in case nobody wins the jackpot Tuesday.

The previous record-holder was Powerball, at $365 million on February 18, 2006, which was claimed by 8 meat plant workers in Nebraska.

Other significant records: in 2002, three winners shared a Mega Millions jackpot of $331 million. Powerball has the record for the largest single winner with $314.9 million won on Christmas Day.

Source:http://www.lotterypost.com/news/152306