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Lottery advertising in the USA
Photo: Leah Millis / REUTERS
Since December 8th, no one has had the correct combination of numbers, so the Mega Millions lottery jackpot has steadily grown and grown. A lottery player from New Jersey managed to win 30 rounds later: the numbers 7, 11, 22, 29, 38 and additional number 4 gave him (or her) a win of 1.12 billion dollars (according to other sources, 1.13 billion dollars, the equivalent of a good billion euros). The chance of winning was around one in 302.6 million.
The winner has decided to remain anonymous. All that is known is that he or she comes from New Jersey. Now the decision remains as to how the money will be paid out: either with an initial payment and then 29 annual payments or in a single cash payment. According to media reports, most winners prefer the one-time, flat-rate cash payout. This would therefore amount to around 537 million dollars (almost 500 million euros).
The current win is one of the largest jackpots in US history. The biggest Mega Millions prize was paid out last year when a person from Florida won $1.6 billion (just under 1.5 billion euros). In the competitor Powerball, a lottery player from California even won the sum of 2.04 billion dollars (almost 1.9 billion euros) in 2022.
Tickets for the twice-weekly drawings cost $2 each and are sold in 45 states across the United States. The next big draw in a US lottery will take place on Wednesday evening: The Powerball jackpot is worth 865 million dollars (almost 800 million euros). No one has won here since New Year's, that's 36 draws without a winner, US agencies report.
mgo/AP/Reuters