Numbers drawn for record $667-million U.S. Mega Millions jackpot
(Reuters) - Six little numbered balls were drawn in the U.S. Mega Millions on Tuesday night with a record jackpot of $667 million at stake.
A lottery ticket for the current record breaking $667 million U.S. Mega Millions jackpot is shown in this illustration photograph in Encinitas, California, U.S. October 16, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The numbers were 3, 45, 49, 61 and 69 with the Mega Ball of 9.
The jackpot, which eclipses the previous high of $656 million, follows an 11-week winless streak for the top prize of the Mega Millions lottery. Lottery tickets were sold at $2 each in kiosks, supermarkets and gas stations in 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands.
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The lottery prize is the country’s third highest on record, trailing two Powerball jackpots, including a $1.586 billion payout in 2016.
The immediate cash value of the prize, which winners can opt to take, is $380 million. The higher amount is an annuitized value if the prize is paid out over 29 years.
The Mega Millions jackpot has grown with each of the 23 semi-weekly drawings that failed to producer a top winner since July 24, when an 11-member office pool in Santa Clara County, California, hit a $543 million jackpot.
The odds of hitting the jackpot by matching all six numbers correctly are an astronomical one in 302.6 million, but the odds of turning a Mega Millions ticket into a winner of any kind, including a $2 prize simply for matching the “Mega ball,” are a more down-to-earth one in 24.
Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Clarence Fernandez
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