THE NEW YORK TIMES: Two winning tickets will split the $1.787 billion Powerball jackpot drawn on Saturday. Changes to Powerball and Mega Millions have led to increasingly large jackpots in recent years.
Two tickets sold in Missouri and Texas won the Powerball jackpot drawing on Saturday night. The owners of the tickets will split $1.787 billion, the second-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history, according to Powerball.
Huge jackpots have become increasingly common in the multistate Mega Millions and Powerball lottery drawings because of changes to the games over the years and higher ticket prices.
Between the two lotteries, more than a dozen jackpots in the United States have surpassed $1 billion since 2016.
In 2024, there were three jackpots over $1 billion: an estimated $1.13 billion Mega Millions prize claimed by a winning ticket in New Jersey in March, and a $1.33 billion Powerball jackpot won on April 7 by a ticket sold in Oregon. In December, a Mega Millions ticket sold in California won a $1.22 billion jackpot.
Here’s a look at the 10 biggest U.S. jackpots ever. » | By The New York Times | Sunday, September 7, 2025
Showing posts with label Mega Millions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mega Millions. Show all posts
September 07, 2025
March 31, 2012
The largest lottery jackpot in history – $640m (£400m) – has been shared in the US by at least three ticket holders.
Winning tickets were purchased in Maryland, Illinois and Kansas, according to officials and media reports. The Maryland winner bought the ticket in a 7-Eleven store, a lottery official said.
"It was a quick pick and only one ticket was purchased [by the winner]", the Maryland official said. "We don't know who this person is."
The owners of the 7-Eleven store receive a $100,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. If no-one else comes forward each of the three winners would net more than $213m. » | Damien Pearse and agencies | Saturday, March 31, 2012
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The largest lottery jackpot in history, $640 million (£400 million), has been won by a ticket holder in Maryland, and officials were waiting early on Saturday to see if there are other winning tickets.
Maryland lottery officials announced that a winning ticket was purchased at a store in Baltimore County, though they had not identified the winner yet.
"This is truly remarkable and historic," said Maryland lottery director Stephen Martino. The country was engulfed by lottery mania as the clock ticked down to the drawing of the numbers for the Mega Millions in Atlanta on Friday.
The jackpot had mushroomed into the largest lottery in world history after the previous drawing three days earlier failed to produce a winner.
The odds of winning – at 176 million-to-one, the average American was more likely to be struck by lightning twice or killed by a falling vending machine – did nothing to deter the mania. Read on and comment » | Philip Sherwell | New York | Saturday, March 31, 2012
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March 30, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Odds of 1 in 176 million have not deterred pundits as lottery ticket lines across the US swelled with players drawn by a record $640 million (£400 million) Mega Millions jackpot.
In Arizona, a café worker reported selling $2,600 worth of tickets to one buyer. In Wisconsin, a retired soldier doubled his regular weekly ticket spending to $55.
"I feel like a fool throwing that kind of money away," said the soldier, Jesse Carter. "But it's a chance you take in life, with anything you do."
Kimberly Starks, a spokesman for the Georgia Lottery, said on Friday the jackpot had increased. The jackpot had stood at $540 million before the announcement. The previous record jackpot was $390 million in 2007.
Ticket buyers were converging on stores in 42 states and Washington, DC, where Mega Millions tickets are sold. The drawing was scheduled for late Friday night (4am BST) in Atlanta. » | AP | Friday, March 30, 2012
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USA TODAY: The world's biggest jackpot is getting even bigger. With much of the nation gripped by Mega Millions fever, hopefuls snapped up $100 million worth of tickets ahead of tonight's Mega Millions drawing, pushing the jackpot to $640 million from $540 million on Thursday.
The 11 p.m. ET drawing could provide a lucky ticket holder with a lump-sum, pretax payoff of $462 million. After taxes, the payout is a still-whopping $324 million.
From Vermont to Louisiana and New York to California, the jackpot has been the wistful talk of TV, social media sites, office water coolers and dreamy high rollers for the past week, electrifying ticket sales with a frenzy likely to amp up even further this afternoon and into the evening.
"We're holding our heads in disbelief,'' says Virginia lottery director Paula Otto, who may deploy some sales officials to assist retailers with today's ticket buying onslaught.
The pot has grown nearly $300 million since Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing failed to draw a top prize winner for the 18th consecutive time since late January.
"It's uncharted territory," says Buddy Roogow, director of the Washington D.C., lottery, which issued a commemorative "I Played The World's Largest Jackpot" ticket this week. A typical Mega Millions drawing sells 250,000 tickets in the nation's capital. "Friday, the real frenzy sets in," says Roogow, who expects ticket sales of 1 million. » | Gary Strauss | USA TODAY | Friday, March 30, 2012
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March 29, 2012
The Mega Millions fortune is now worth $500 million (£300 million) after a series of rollovers, blasting through the previous record of $390 million, which was eventually split between two winners in 2007.
If a single winner matches all six numbers on Friday they can opt to take their fortune in a single lump sum or else settle for annual payments of a mere $19 million (£12 million).
Unlike most European lotteries the Mega Millions is subject to tax, so a lump sum winner would only take home $359 million - a figure roughly equivalent the economy of Tonga.
By British standards, the winner would fall a little short of the Queen on the rich list but comfortably ahead of Sir Elton John, Sir Mick Jagger and the Beckhams. Tourists are entitled to buy the tickets, but foreigners cannot purchase them online from overseas. Read on and comment » | Raf Sanchez | Washington | Wednesday, March 28, 2012
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March 28, 2012
USA TODAY: ATLANTA (AP) – It's almost unimaginable. No one picked the six correct numbers in the latest multi-state Mega Millions lottery game, sending the jackpot to a record $476 million for the Friday drawing.
Tuesday night's jackpot was $363 million, fed by weeks of drawings without a top winner. The previous record jackpot in the Mega Millions game was $390 million in 2007, split by two winners in New Jersey and Georgia. » | AP | Wednesday, March 28, 2012
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March 27, 2012
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The Mega Millions jackpot has climbed to $363 million, and if a winning number is drawn Tuesday night, the lucky ticket holder will be able to choose a cash option payout of $259.8 million, California lottery officials said.
When the drawing occurs at 8 p.m., ticket holders will be vying for the third-largest Mega Millions jackpot of all time, according to KTLA-TV.
The total is rapidly approaching the state record, a $390 million payout won in March 2007. » | Tuesday, March 27, 2012
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