Three lottery tickets sold in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland hit the world record-breaking $640 million Mega Millions jackpot, lottery officials said Saturday, dashing the get-rich-quick dreams of millions of players across the country.
Illinois' winner used a quick pick in which the computer selected the winning numbers on a ticket sold at a convenience store in the small town of Red Bud, near St. Louis, Illinois Lottery spokesman Mike Lang said. Another ticket with the winning numbers was sold at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Milford Mill, Maryland, north of Baltimore.
Each winning ticket was expected to be worth more than $213 million before taxes. The winners, for now, remain unidentified.
“It's just unbelievable. Everyone is wanting to know who it is,” said Denise Metzger, manager of the Motomart where Illinois' winning ticket was sold. “All day yesterday I was selling tickets and I was hoping someone from Red Bud would win. Never in my wildest dreams did I think this. I'm just tickled pink.”
Paramedic Dan Parrott walked away from the store with only $5 in winnings after checking his $40 worth of tickets, not enough for that new house, new car and the new ambulances he'd decided would help him spend the jackpot.
“I'd love to have all that money, but with all of that money comes responsibility,” he said outside the store. “But it'd still be awesome.”
The morning after the drawing, Americans were left with fantasies of what they would have done with more than half a billion dollars. Users posted their what-ifs on the AP's Facebook page, with dreams ranging from buying a house and paying off debts, giving money to New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward and buying an island in Southeast Asia. In New York City, Sean Flaherty hoped to trade in some of his 12-hour days working as a video game tester to spend more time with his wife and daughter.
“I knew that when I bought the ticket, that I wouldn't win,” Flaherty said Saturday. “But I did it anyhow. Because, I don't know, it would be like Christmas.”
In Maryland, television cameras descended on the 7-Eleven where the state's winning ticket was purchased. The harried manager repeatedly said “No interviews” to reporters pressing for details as customers pushed through the media crush for their morning coffee on Saturday.
Nyeri Murphy, holding two scratch-off tickets, said she normally plays Powerball but drove to a nearby county to buy $70 worth of Mega Millions tickets this week. “I should have bought them here,” she said.
Maryland does not require lottery winners to be identified; the Mega Millions winner can claim the prize anonymously. The store will receive a $100,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket, which was purchased Friday night.
The third winning ticket was purchased in northeast Kansas, but no other information will be released by the Kansas Lottery until the winner comes forward, spokeswoman Cara S. Sloan-Ramos said.
No winner had contacted the agency by Saturday morning, Kansas Lottery Director Dennis Wilson said. “We sure want to meet the winner, but we want to tell them, sign the back of the ticket and secure it.”
Kansas law also allows lottery winners to remain anonymous, though lottery winners in Illinois are identified.
The winning numbers in Friday night's drawing were 02-04-23-38-46, and the Mega Ball 23.
Maryland Lottery spokeswoman Carole Everett said the last time a ticket from the state won a major national jackpot was in 2008, when a ticket won for $24 million.
“We're thrilled,” she said. “We're due and excited.”
The holder of the winning ticket in Maryland has 182 days to come forward and claim the prize. Kansas winners have up to one year.
Even though just three tickets matched all the winning numbers, the jackpot made a millionaire of at least three other winners and gave a windfall to more than 100 others. Three ticket-holders won $1 million each, and 158 won $250,000 for matching the first five numbers drawn, said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association in Urbandale, Iowa.
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, which amounts to a $462 million lump sum and around $347 million after federal tax withholding. The odds of winning the jackpot were 1 in 176 million.
From coast to coast, people stood in line at retail stores Friday for one last chance at striking it rich.
Maribeth Ptak, 31, of Milwaukee, said she only buys Mega Millions tickets when the jackpot is really big and she bought one Friday at a Milwaukee grocery store. She said she'd use the money to pay off bills, including school loans, and then she'd donate a good portion to charity.
“I know the odds are really not in my favor, but why not,” she said.
Willie Richards, who works for the U.S. Marshals Service at a federal courthouse in Atlanta, figured if there ever was a time to confront astronomical odds, it was when $640 million was at stake. He bought five tickets for Friday's drawing.
“When it gets as big as it is now, you'd be nuts not to play,” he said. “You have to take a chance on Lady Luck.” (AP)
<관련 한글 기사>
'사상 최고액' 복권 당첨금이 7천억원
추가 당첨자 없으면 1인당 세전 당첨금 2천411억원
6억4천만달러(한화 약 7천250억원)라 는 미국 사상 최고의 당첨금이 걸린 메가밀리언 복권이 3장 팔린 것으로 확인됐다.
복권 관계자들은 31일(현지시간) 이들 당첨 복권이 메릴랜드와 일리노이, 캔자 스 등 3개 주(州)에서 판매됐다고 밝혔다.
일리노이주 복권 대변인 마이크 랭은 "일리노이주 레드버드라는 작은 도시의 한 편의점에서 당첨 복권이 팔렸고, 당첨된 사람은 기계가 임의로 번호를 뽑아주는 퀵픽(quick pick) 방식으로 복권을 샀다"고 전했다.
당첨 복권을 판매한 가게의 매니저는 "흥분되고 사람들이 기뻐하고 있다"면서 "매일 아침 복권을 팔면서 누군가 행운을 얻기를 기원했다"고 말했다.
메릴랜드에서는 볼티모어 카운티의 편의점 세븐일레븐에서 당첨 복권이 팔렸다.
이 가게는 당첨 복권을 판매해 10만달러의 보너스를 받게 됐다.
캔자스에서는 북부 지역에서 당첨 복권이 팔렸지만 자세한 내용은 알려지지 않고 있다.
캔자스 복권 관계자는 당첨자가 확인될 때까지 상세한 정보를 공개하지 않겠다고 밝혔다.
당첨자들이 추가로 나오지 않는다면 당첨 복권의 주인들은 6억4천만달러의 상금을 나눠야 하기 때문에 세금을 내기 전 기준으로 2억1천300만달러(2천411억원 상당) 를 받게 된다.
당첨 복권을 구입한 사람들의 신원은 아직 확인되지 않고 있다.
행운의 당첨번호는 2, 4, 23, 38, 46번에 메가볼은 23번이었다.
메가밀리언 복권은 지난 1월 24일 이후 무려 18차례나 1등 당첨자가 나오지 않아 당첨금이 사상 최고액으로 불어나면서 미국인들의 초미의 관심사로 떠올랐다.
1등 당첨 확률이 1억7천600만분의 1로 희박했지만 평생에 한 번 만나기 어려운 일확천금의 기회를 노리는 미국 국민의 호응으로 복권판매소 앞은 연일 장사진을 이뤘고 연예인들까지 사재기에 나섰다.
미국 지방정부도 지역 주민 가운데 당첨자가 나오기를 기대했다. 당첨금에 부과 되는 세금이 엄청나 지방정부 재정에 적지 않은 도움이 되기 때문이다. (연합뉴스)
