One winning ticket was apparently sold for the world record $1.6 million Mega Millions jackpot. It was purchased in South Carolina.
The six winning numbers were drawn Tuesday night.
Early Wednesday morning, the South Carolina Education Lottery posted a chart showing one ticket was a winner:
Chart shows winning ticket sold in South Carolina for $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot; numbers were drawn on night of October 23, 2018
South Carolina Education Lottery
Lottery officials have yet to make an official announcement about the results.
Tickets had to match all five white balls and the yellow Mega Ball to claim total victory.
But lottery officials say 8 tickets were sold in California that matched 5 of the 6 numbers needed to win. The amount each ticket is worth hasn’t been announced. But none won the grand prize.
Mega Millions winning numbers
- 5, 28, 62, 65, 70 and Mega Ball 5
- Megaplier 3x
The jackpot’s estimated cash value is $913 million, an option favored by most winners. Otherwise, the jackpot is doled out over 29 years. If nobody matches Tuesday’s numbers, officials say the next drawing will be Friday for an estimated $2 billion jackpot.
Tuesday’s jackpot has been soaring since July, when a group of office workers in California won $543 million.
Mega Millions has more than 302 million possible number combinations. Lottery officials had expected to sell 75 percent of them by Tuesday night’s drawing, where Mega Millions host John Crow announced the winning numbers.
“A million dollars is life changing. But a billion dollars is extraordinary,” Crow told CBS News. “So that excitement, that enthusiasm that is generating right now is what’s great about this jackpot.”
Mega Millions tickets are $2 and are sold in 44 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Officials say the previous record Mega Millions jackpot was $656 million, which was shared by winners in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland in the drawing on March 30, 2012.
“Mega Millions has already entered historic territory, but it’s truly astounding to think that now the jackpot has reached an all-time world record,” Gordon Medenica, lead director of the Mega Millions Group and director of Maryland Lottery and Gaming, said about Tuesday’s drawing. “It’s hard to overstate how exciting this is — but now it’s really getting fun.”
Powerball will hold its drawing Wednesday night for a jackpot estimated at $620 million or a cash value of $354.3 million.
Odds of winning
The odds of winning a jackpot remain abysmal 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 gamble. Last year, they spent $72.97 billion on traditional lottery tickets, according to Gallup.
On average, that’s $206.69 per person. “Our obsession with lotteries, with gambling, is that unicorn feeling of, like, ‘maybe it’ll be me,'” CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger said. She points out that some people don’t necessarily play to win.
“They just want to take a moment out of their day to consider how to dream big,” Schlesinger said.
The average American spends about $223 per year on lottery tickets, according to a survey from LENDedu. Massachusetts residents have the biggest taste for playing the odds, spending almost $763 per year on lottery tickets, the study found. North Dakotans are on the opposite end of the spectrum, spending about $44 per year on the lottery, or the lowest average figure among residents of all 50 states.
A man walks past advertisements for the Mega Millions and Powerball lottery hanging on a window of the New York Lottery Customer Service Center, on Tue., Oct. 23, 2018, in New York City.
Getty
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
