A record $640 million lottery prize that sent the United States into a gambling frenzy has gone to three winners.
None of the players were identified but officials confirmed that winning tickets were sold near Baltimore, Maryland and Redbud, Illinois, and CNN reported a third winner in the state of Kansas.
The winning numbers 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 and Mega Ball 23 was announced at 11:00 p.m.
Illinois lottery superintendent Michael Jones says, “It’s very important now for whoever has that winning ticket to sign the back of the ticket, put it in a safe place, reach out to us so we can begin the process of awarding the person the prize”.
Experts warned it could be days or even weeks before somebody showed up to claim the prize as winners usually tend to hash out all the legal issues with their lawyers before taking that step.
The chance to get suddenly very, very rich – even if it was only a one-in-176-million chance – had sparked feverish ticket sales at convenience stores and news kiosks across the United States.
There was plenty of fantasizing too on the airwaves and in newspapers about life after winning the monstrous jackpot – a dream all the more powerful in a country with a weak jobs market and still spooked about recession.
The tickets made it unequivocally clear: this was nothing less than “the world’s largest jackpot.”
The jackpot hit a record level because no one had matched the magic five numbers and Mega Ball since January 24 – a full 18 draws with no winner.
Given the pace of ticket buying, the prize climbed inexorably higher and late Friday tickets for the mega jackpot were reportedly selling at the unprecedented rate of $4 million per hour.
