At least one big winner out there
Officials in South Carolina said they had a winner in their state for the record $1.6 billion Mega Millions lottery jackpot.
KABC-TV in Los Angeles reported Tuesday that lottery officials were scheduled to release more information later.
Not all states had reported results as of press time.
The numbers drawn in Tuesday night’s drawing were 5, 28, 62, 65, 70 and Mega Ball 5.
It costs $2 to play the game, but the odds of matching all six numbers and taking home the grand prize are 1 in 302.5 million, while there’s a slightly better chance — 1 in 292.2 million — of winning the
$620 million Powerball prize Wednesday night.
The estimated jackpot had been growing since July, when a group of California office workers won $543 million. The $1.6 billion jackpot was the world’s largest lottery prize ever.
The annual El Gordo national lottery in Spain adLOTTERY
Responding to catchand-release loopholes, illegal immigration has shifted from primarily single adults from Mexico to family units and unaccompanied minors from Central America.
vertises a larger total prize pool, but the money is divvied up into many prizes, according to Seth Elkin, a spokesman for the Maryland lottery, which currently takes questions about the Mega Millions drawing.
Pool safeguards
For those pooling their lottery purchases with co-workers, attorneys and lottery officials agree that drawing up an agreement is a smart idea, though they acknowledge it can seem silly to draw up agreements and copy ticket stubs given the dismal odds of actually winning.
But then there’s the case of a group of New Jersey construction workers who noticed the sixth member of their lottery pool had abruptly left work. Turns out, he had a lottery ticket worth $38.5 million and claimed he bought the winning ticket separately with his own money.
“With this many zeros attached to it, it is a recipe for disaster,” said Rubin Sinins, the attorney for the five jilted construction workers in that 2009 case. His clients eventually won a jury verdict and split the lottery winnings.
Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, said the key is to put a few rules into writing. That includes details about how any prize would be divvied up, members of the group and what should happen if a regular player is away and didn’t chip in for a specific drawing.
And always make copies of group tickets — including identifying numbers on the back of tickets — before the drawing so everyone is aware of the potential winning numbers.
“You’re thinking about a bestcase scenario of winning, but you’re taking precautions about a worst case of fighting over the winnings,” Neubauer said.
The Missouri Lottery recommends people also have a plan for notifying
group members if they win, figuring out who would be the group spokesperson and maybe even decide what outsider would serve as financial planner.
Despite its importance, it’s understandable that such planning can seem unnecessary, said Christopher Burns, a tax and estate attorney in Minneapolis.
“Laying the groundwork is important, but most people would not bother to fully lay the groundwork because the odds are so small,” Burns said. “People aren’t going to typically expend the time or the effort to have anything in writing or take other steps because the odds are so remote.”
Behind the big numbers
The advertised $1.6 billion Mega Millions prize and $620 million Powerball prize aren’t quite real. That is, those are the amounts you’d be paid if you chose an annuity, doled out over 29 years. Nearly every winner opts for cash, which is the amount of money the lottery folks actually have in the bank ready to pay out to the company that would fund the annuity.
The cash option is still massive, at $904 million for Mega Millions and $354.3 million for Powerball.