6 tickets from LA win $1 million megamillions 4/10

so it looks like it has happened again, but this time with megamillions.  looks like one person playing the same set of numbers.  louisiana lottery says 6 tickets matched all 5 numbers with the megaplier.  the tickets were purchased in denham springs.   correct me if im wrong but i was under the impression that unlike powerball, the 1 million prize in megamillions is divided amongst multiple winners.   if this is true, this guy who bought 6 tickets thinking he just won 6 million is only going to end up winning 1 million total among all 6 tickets.

http://www.louisianalottery.com/index.cfm?md=game&tmp=viewstats&navID=0&gamename=megam&drawingdat=2012-04-10

WOW!!! $6 million smart move on his part. HiFi I don't believe the second tier prize is divided amongst other winners in Louisiana I believe that only applies to CA(pari mutuel) correct me if I am wrong as well.

hey i had 3+0 I'm happy with that.. first time i've had that on the Mega Millions ever!

and I had 26 not 2-6 bleh. lol

and it looks like it will become parimutel since they probably don't have the "funds"

Argh... My quick pick numbers were:2, 6, 23, 33, 49, 30.

I feel like I was close.

From the LA lottery website:

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"In accordance with game rules, all set prizes and Megaplier prizes, including the Match 5 prize, may become pari-mutuel if claims exceed available prize funds."

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But I still think he'll get more than a mil.  I can't find anywhere that says what the available prize funds are for matching 5.  He could get the full 6 mil if the state has that much in the fund.

Thanks HLK, I didn't know LA was pari-mutuel

Idaho becomes pari mutuel too, if too many win a certain prize level and the lottery commission doesn't have enough in the fund to cover it.  I'd guess most states have a clause like that.  They'd be bankrupt if someone had all 5 of the white balls and played them with each powerball or megaball.   That would be 33 million they'd have to pay with powerball, or 66 million if the ticket holder bought the powerplay.  There's no way a single state could pay out that kind of money.

Moral of the story:  If you know what the 5 white balls will be, buy a few lines in each of a whole bunch of different states to have a better chance of getting the full payout.

They could pay it if they kept the unclaimed JPs for such a purpose.

http://www.louisianalottery.com/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=910

A total of $6 Million in Mega Millions with Megaplier match-5 prizes were won at Murphy Express #8510 in Denham Springs for the April 10 drawing. One winner stepped forward yesterday and claimed $3 million from three plays on one ticket, which each matched the five white ball numbers but missed the yellow Mega Ball. The usual match-5 prize is $250,000, but when the optional $1-per-play Megaplier option is purchased, the prize becomes $1 million.  The other $3 million-winning ticket has not been claimed. The store earns a 1 percent selling bonus for each match-5 prize-winning play, which amounts to a total of $60,000.The store earns a 1 percent selling bonus for each match-5 prize-winning play, which amounts to a total of $60,000.

Actually, if you read the Mega Millions game rules, all the lotteries, excluding California, can send money that is not needed to pay the lower tier prizes for that state into a cash reserve to ensure that a lottery can pay the set prizes awarded.  I also believe there is a NATIONWIDE liability cap of the lesser of 300% of draw sales (excluding CA sales/prizes) or 50% of draw sales + $50 million.  To date, I don't believe that cap has ever been breached.

Hmmm, after doing some calculations, I've determined that, in terms of MEGAPLIER sales, the anticipated prize fund is 48.392% of sales, and 19.2076 cents of each $1 wagered on the Megaplier goes to pay the $1,000,000 prize winners ($750,000 actually, because the original $250,000 is covered by the first regular $1; also for the other prizes, you have to individually calculate the odds of winning $40,000, $30,000, $20,000, or an extra $30,000, $20,000, or $10,000, and so forth down to the extra $6, $4, and $2, because of the odds of each megaplier being picked being 1.75 to 1, 3 to 1, and 10.5 to 1, for megapliers 4, 3, and 2, respectively; also, for purposes of the MEGAPLIER, the match 5+1 category, of course, pays $0).  Therefore, the $6,000,000 would be covered under normal prize funds (or at least the extra $4,500,000 would be covered) IF ~23.4 million Megaplier options had been purchased already, and those were the only six $1 million wins out of all the draws that it took to sell that many (after all, the flip side of having to pay out the nose for unexpected wins in a set prize game is if there are NO winners of a particular prize level for a long time, the prize money just stays in the state for times when there ARE more wins than expected).  Since the $1 million Megaplier prize doesn't hit that often, it is VERY probable that those wins do not exceed the available prize funds.

Makes you wonder if all six tickets had the same Mega number or six different Mega nunmbers.

I've always thought hitting 5 + 0 would be "sweet but maddening", missing mulit-millions by one number.

Doing it three or six times over could really drive you batty.

Still though, sure pays to play that extra dollar. $1,000,000 is a lot better than $250,000, even more so three or six times over.