The largest lottery jackpot in US history of $640 million has at least three winners who bought tickets in Maryland, Illinois and Kansas, and officials were waiting on Saturday for the winners to come forward. Lottery officials in Maryland and Illinois said that winning tickets were purchased in their states, and a winning ticket was also bought in Kansas, according to the state's lottery website.
The Maryland ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven store in the Baltimore area and the Illinois ticket in the tiny town of Red Bud, near St. Louis. The Kansas ticket was sold in the north-east region of the state, the state lottery website said, though the town was not disclosed.
"We can confirm that a winning ticket was sold in Illinois," said state lottery spokeswoman Liz Leonard. She said the winner there had used the "quick pick" method of choosing numbers - allowing the ticket vending machine to randomly pick the six numbers.
The winners whose tickets had all six numbers of the Mega Millions lottery drawn on Friday night will split the jackpot. "This is truly remarkable and historic," said Maryland lottery director Stephen Martino said.
The winning numbers announced at the drawing in Atlanta were 2-4-23-38-46 and Mega Ball 23. Winners could receive either a one-time payment of their share or take it in 26 annual instalment payments. Though the winner may want to remain anonymous, in Illinois the state is required to eventually list his or her identity in public records. A lottery official in Maryland said the winning ticket there also was a quick pick, and the identity of the person was not yet known. The owners of the 7-Eleven store receive a $100,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket, in addition to the usual five percent of each $1 ticket sold, he said.
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