CHARLESTON, W.Va. –– The multi-state lottery jackpots have each climbed to unusually high levels. The large amounts typically spur more ticket sales and West Virginia Lottery officials say this week is no different.
“It creates a lot of excitement around the country and we are seeing an uptick in sales,” said West Virginia Lottery Assistant Director Randy Burnside said.
The Mega Millions jackpot for Tuesday will be worth an estimated $625 million and Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot will be worth $550 million.
“This is only the second time in history the jackpots have both been over $500 Million at the same time,” Burnside added.
Although the higher jackpots generate more interest and spur more ticket sales, the odds remain the same and according to Burnside, it only takes one ticket to win. He encouraged ticket buyers to play responsibly.
“We all like to dream about that life changing amount of money and these are the two games which produce it. But another aspect is you don’t have to match all six numbers to win a prize. There are a lot of prizes down through the game’s matrix,” he said.
Certain combinations of numbers could win $1 Million, $100,000, or $50,000 prizes.
Although the Powerball and Mega Millions are multi-state games, the money spent on the tickets in West Virginia , stays in West Virginia to be used for senior citizen programs, tourism, and education projects.