(Money I didn’t win!)
So, uh, yeah, I didn’t win Mega Millions.
How could this happen? I already spent the money!
The winning numbers in Friday night’s drawing were 02-04-23-38-46, and the Mega Ball was 23.
I think one of my tickets is worth 10 bucks, so I’m not a total loser.
Which is more than I can say for the 53 bazillion others who shelled out at least a buck trying to score the world record-breaking $640 million jackpot.
According to USA Today, Americans spent nearly $1.5 billion for a chance to strike it rich playing Mega Millions last night.
For a few lucky ducks, the investment paid off.
Mega Millions has confirmed that ticket-holders in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland matched all five numbers, plus the Mega Ball.
The Today show was first to go live outside of the 7-Eleven in Baltimore County where one of the winning tickets was purchased. Illinois’ winning ticket was reportedly sold in a small town that sits near the Illinois-Missouri border, and the final golden ticket was purchased in northeast Kansas, according to the Kansas Lottery website.
According to lottery officials, each winning ticket is worth roughly $213 million before taxes. However, it has yet to be announced if the mega-prize will be split between just three winners or a slew of them, who may have purchased it through an office pool.
In Washington, D.C. lottery officials say that more than one million Mega Millions tickets were sold on Friday alone. Typically, the area sells less than 250,000 tickets in a single day. The story was the same in Meridian, Idaho. The city usually sells about 450 Mega Millions tickets per day, but on Friday it was selling in excess of 2,000.
All those dreamers helped the Mega Millions’ pot to grow to nearly $300 million since Tuesday’s night drawing which didn’t yield a mega-winner.
So, how much did you walk away with last night?