CHICAGO -- Lottery ticketholders in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland each selected the winning numbers for the world record-breaking $640 million Mega Millions jackpot, reported the Associated Press.
A Motomart store in Red Bud, near St. Louis, sold Illinois' winning ticket, and the winner used a quick pick to select the numbers, Illinois Lottery spokesperson Mike Lang told the news agency. The Maryland Lottery said that 7-Eleven store in Milford Mill, near Baltimore, sold the winning ticket in Maryland. A winning ticket also was purchased in northeast Kansas, according to the Kansas Lottery website.
Each winning ticket was expected to be worth more than $213 million before taxes, Lang said. The winning numbers in Friday night's drawing were 02-04-23-38-46, and the Mega Ball was 23.
The estimated jackpot dwarfs the previous $390 million record, which was split in 2007 by two winners who bought tickets in Georgia and New Jersey.
Americans spent nearly $1.5 billion for a chance to hit the jackpot, said AP, which amounts to a $462 million lump sum and around $347 million after federal tax withholding. With the jackpot odds at 1 in 176 million, it would cost $176 million to buy up every combination. Under that scenario, the strategy would win $171 million less if your state also withholds taxes.
With much of the nation gripped by Mega Millions fever last week, hopefuls inundated convenience stores, gas stations and other ticket outlets in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands, said a USA Today report.
"The lottery traffic is up in a lot of stores," Jim Calvin, president of the New York State Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS), told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.
For the c-stores in New York (as well as nationwide) that sell lottery tickets, such big jackpots "bring plusses and minuses. Convenience stores survive on foot traffic [and] whatever brings people through the door is going to be a plus," he said. But smaller stores dealing with a big lottery jackpot and a long line of players sometimes might lose some sales from customers who don't want the hassle of the wait.
Also, a big potential jackpot brings increased traffic interested just in lottery tickets, though stores typically make little money on lottery sales. "The hope is we'll make money on the other products lottery customers [buy]," Calvin said.
On Friday, a Murphy's Express in Greensboro, N.C., made buying lottery tickets a convenience. News 2 reported that store employees are allowed to print out extra tickets and walk around the store premises selling them to people outside. Customers filling up their gas tanks took advantage of the convenience, buying by the dozens, said the report.
Employees inside, hard at work behind the cashiers were selling tickets by the hundreds. Manager Brian Ledford has all of his employees designated to specific roles for selling the tickets. It kept the wait-time manageable despite the consistent traffic of people in the store.
"It helps our lines, when the lines get so deep in there, as a consumer, you don't want to wait in line, you want to get in, get out, you got things to do. If you don't want to stand in line, I've got a ticket right here, if you don't mind getting a ticket from me, you'll be going about your way," said Ledford.
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