CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Winning tickets for the $636 million Mega Millions jackpot were sold in California and Georgia Tuesday according to multi-state lottery association.
The winner numbers for the second largest jackpot in U.S. history were 8, 14, 17, 20, 39 and the Mega Ball was 7.
In all $336 million tickets were sold for Tuesday’s drawing including millions in West Virginia.
“We are very excited,” West Virginia Lottery Marketing Director Nikki Orcutt said ahead of Tuesday night’s drawing. “We have been watching this jackpot grow since the beginning of October. The anticipation of how high it can go is unbelievable.”
If nobody hits the jackpot Tuesday night there’s a chance the next drawing could be worth $1 billion. It’s never happened and it’s left lottery marketers scratching their heads.
Orcutt said a large jackpot earlier this year was profitable for the state Lottery.
“The last time we had the 656 million dollar Mega Millions world record jackpot in March we saw a four million dollar plus sales week,” Orcutt said. “Fifty percent of those sales come back here to the state.”
The odds of winning the jackpot were one in 259 million. It’s not yet known how many other winners, if any, wr in West Virginia.
“Overall odds are pretty good. One in 40 are the odds for winning any prize,” Orcutt said. “Those could range from three dollars up to one million.”
The cash value for the estimated $636 million jackpot was $341.2 million. The Mega Millions jackpot will reset to $15 million for Friday’s drawing.