Tue Dec 17, 2013 10:30pm IST
(Adds quotes from ticket buyers)
By Barbara Goldberg
Dec 17 (Reuters) - A last-minute ticket buying frenzy could inflate Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot to become the biggest U.S. lottery prize in history, and the odds are mounting for a winner just a week before Christmas, a game official said.
The prize swelled to $586 million on Monday, with another spike in sales expected Tuesday before the 11:00 p.m. EST (0400 GMT, Dec. 18) drawing, said Paula Otto, Virginia's lottery director, who heads the multi-state Mega Millions game.
If the winner chooses to take the lump sum cash option, instead of payments over 30 years, the jackpot would be $316 million, according to MegaMillions.com.
As much as 70 percent of the tickets is typically bought on the day of the drawing, she said.
At a corner grocery store on Manhattan's Upper East Side, ticket buyers lined up for a chance to strike it rich, and shared their dream shopping lists.
"I would give at least half of it to my church," said Keith Boyd, pastor at the nearby Trinity Baptist Church, who bought 20 tickets to give away as gifts while keeping one for himself. "It would be a way to bless others."
Syed Waheed, a 37-year-old immigrant from Afghanistan who bought a single ticket, said he would use the fortune to bring his entire family to the United States.
Ticket buying reached a fever pitch over the weekend, with 20 percent more chances sold than expected, Otto said.
The surge of spending pushed the prize closer to the record U.S. jackpot of $656 million, won March 2012 in a Mega Millions drawing. The second-largest lottery jackpot was $590.5 million, won May 2013 in a Powerball game.
"If it doesn't surpass the record, we'll be close. It's growing a little faster than we thought," Otto said on Monday.
The more tickets sold, the better the chance that someone will match one of the 259 million possible number combinations that could land a jackpot. By Tuesday's drawing, players will have bought enough tickets to cover 65 percent to 75 percent of the possible number combinations to strike it rich, Otto said.
"You don't know you have a winner unless it's 100 percent covered, though," she said.
If no one picks the exact combination of numbers that appear on six randomly selected lottery balls, the prize will keep ballooning until the next drawing on Friday.
"We've never had a jackpot this high the week before Christmas," said Otto, who kept mum on whether she is hoping for the drama that a Christmas Eve drawing could bring.
"You like to see winners and you like to see big jackpots. I leave it in the hands of the bouncing balls," Otto said. (Additional reporting by Elizabeth Dilts; Editing by Scott Malone, Steve Orlofsky and Bernadette Baum)
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- (Adds quotes from ticket buyers) By Barbara Goldberg Dec 17 (Reuters) - A last-minute ticket buying frenzy could inflate Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot to become the biggest U.S. lottery prize in history, and the odds are mounting for a winner just...
(Adds quotes from ticket buyers)
By Barbara Goldberg
Dec 17 (Reuters) - A last-minute ticket buying frenzy could inflate Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot to become the biggest U.S. lottery prize in history, and the odds are mounting for a winner just a week before Christmas, a game official said.
The prize swelled to $586 million on Monday, with another spike in sales expected Tuesday before the 11:00 p.m. EST (0400 GMT, Dec. 18) drawing, said Paula Otto, Virginia's lottery director, who heads the multi-state Mega Millions game.
If the winner chooses to take the lump sum cash option, instead of payments over 30 years, the jackpot would be $316 million, according to MegaMillions.com.
As much as 70 percent of the tickets is typically bought on the day of the drawing, she said.
At a corner grocery store on Manhattan's Upper East Side, ticket buyers lined up for a chance to strike it rich, and shared their dream shopping lists.
"I would give at least half of it to my church," said Keith Boyd, pastor at the nearby Trinity Baptist Church, who bought 20 tickets to give away as gifts while keeping one for himself. "It would be a way to bless others."
Syed Waheed, a 37-year-old immigrant from Afghanistan who bought a single ticket, said he would use the fortune to bring his entire family to the United States.
Ticket buying reached a fever pitch over the weekend, with 20 percent more chances sold than expected, Otto said.
The surge of spending pushed the prize closer to the record U.S. jackpot of $656 million, won March 2012 in a Mega Millions drawing. The second-largest lottery jackpot was $590.5 million, won May 2013 in a Powerball game.
"If it doesn't surpass the record, we'll be close. It's growing a little faster than we thought," Otto said on Monday.
The more tickets sold, the better the chance that someone will match one of the 259 million possible number combinations that could land a jackpot. By Tuesday's drawing, players will have bought enough tickets to cover 65 percent to 75 percent of the possible number combinations to strike it rich, Otto said.
"You don't know you have a winner unless it's 100 percent covered, though," she said.
If no one picks the exact combination of numbers that appear on six randomly selected lottery balls, the prize will keep ballooning until the next drawing on Friday.
"We've never had a jackpot this high the week before Christmas," said Otto, who kept mum on whether she is hoping for the drama that a Christmas Eve drawing could bring.
"You like to see winners and you like to see big jackpots. I leave it in the hands of the bouncing balls," Otto said. (Additional reporting by Elizabeth Dilts; Editing by Scott Malone, Steve Orlofsky and Bernadette Baum)
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