By Todd Northrop
Mega Millions lottery players across the United States are pulling out the stops and lottery tickets are being snapped up at a furious pace nation-wide for the Friday evening drawing, which has been raised mid-week to $312 million.
By the time ticket sales close Friday night, the jackpot may be even higher.
The estimated jackpot for the March 25, 2011 Mega Millions drawing was raised Thursday from $304 million to $312 million because of heavier than expected sales in all Mega Millions states.
Likewise, the lump-sum cash value of the massive grand prize was raised to $198 million, and increase of $4.4 million from the initial estimate made early Wednesday morning.
"Sales for Mega Millions have risen tremendously in the last couple of weeks, which is a huge boost for education," said Rebecca Hargrove, President and CEO of the Tennessee Lottery.
In Indiana, lottery officials will be giving away free Mega Millions tickets Friday to the first 304 people at each of three convenience stores.
The first giveaway will be held at 6 a.m. at the Circle K store at Interstate 69 and 96th Street in Fishers. Then at noon, tickets will be given away at Silver Express, at 10th Street and Country Club Road in Indianapolis. Finally at 4:30 p.m., another giveaway will be held at a Village Pantry at 86th Street and Ditch Road in Indianapolis.
Lottery players seeking to check the winning numbers Friday night are urged to use USA Mega (www.usamega.com). State lottery Web sites are normally brought to a standstill during busy periods, while USA Mega normally remains responsive.
Mega Millions drawing results will be posted immediately after the 11:00 pm drawing at USA Mega. The number of winners and new jackpot will be announced after all participating Mega Millions states have reported their data, which normally occurs within a couple of hours after the drawing.
Tickets will remain on sale typically until 10:45 pm Eastern Time on Friday, although players should check with a lottery retailer in their state for the exact sales cutoff time. Players are advised not to wait until the last minute.
If the jackpot is not won on Friday, the Tuesday jackpot may become one of the largest lottery jackpots in history — if not the largest.
The odds of winning the jackpot are approximately 1 in 176 million. The odds of winning any of the Mega Millions prizes are approximately 1 in 40.
Mega Millions features nine different prize levels, ranging from $2 all the way up to the jackpot. Players can win even if they just match one number — the Mega Ball number.
Most states also offer the Megaplier option for an extra dollar per ticket purchased. The Megaplier multiplies any non-jackpot prizes won by 2, 3, or 4 times, depending on the Megaplier number drawn that evening.
Players who purchase the Megaplier and win second prize will automatically have their prize increased by 4x to $1 million.
surely,their is no more better time to play the mega millions than this week.I will advice you to play many combinations so that you increase your chances of winning.
Beleive I had a dream last night,and that I was shown that the Mega Ball shall be No.7
I knew it would. I expect it to end up around $325,000,000
me too.......but i hope it rolls at least 2 more times so we can set a new record
It only needs to roll one more time for a record. If nobody wins tomorrow night, it will go to over $400,000,000. Fortunately, that's not going to happen because I got the $312,000,000 winner in my wallet.
MINE ALL MINE!!!!
personally i would like to see it roll one more time to go for the record and then let me win. if i win i might go down to the safeway store and buy me some white castle burgers out of the freezer. YUM. I am buying another multi draw ticket tonight for the next drawing. i am buying another one for powerball too. i can live 125 million. uhmmm white castle.
Not 312m,just 136m.Euro Millions is more bigger,188m.
Lol! Ironically, I just left Safeway here in my state, and the lines were longer than I ever can remember. If it is not won by me tomorrow, or anyone else. Yeah, it will top $400,000,000. I'd love to see the frenzy increase at least til Tuesday, so we all can witness a record-breaker. I just hope whomever wins, exercises some common sense and wisdom, and live happily ever after.
Got my 4 dollar ticket.If I do win u can expect to hear that my trust has cashed the ticket for atleast two months giving time to.let all the hoopla die down about who has the winning ticket and those pesky reporters away.
My laptop crashed...so hopefully that is a sign that my world is going to dramatically change this week. Although I would be quite happy with the MegaMillions jackpot in my investment and bank accounts, I would be just as satisfied with either Powerball or Illinois Lotto...a few mil is enough but $200 million is just RIGHT!!!
Good luck to the players...and when I win.....OH HAPPY DAYS!!!
Gotta get me a 2 dollar ticket tonight or early in the morning; but I will have a ticket before this drawing...wish me luck everyone!
Sorry to tell you all this but the winning ticket is coming back home to Michigan and it will be in my hands! I bought a few from different stores in the area. I also went to the little grocery store that sold the Stebbins their winning ticket a few years back.
It is only fair that I inform you that I fully intend to keep all the hoopla going for a long, long time.
I love hoopla.
It's strange cuz I have yet to see any insane lines for tickets anywhere in Indy but I expect that to change tomorrow. Dunno if I plan to buy anymore tickets though.
I love Hoopla too. I will start it right here on LP in the Jackpot Forum in the Mega-Million Challenge thread when i post a picture of my winning ticket.
I will then head to Lansing Michigan to collect my cash flow, hopefully they will do a direct deposit into my CU.
More Hoopla at my Credit Union when i go in to make a small widthdraw. I can't wait to see the look on the tellers face when i want to take out $100.00.
More Hoopla when i go to my new boss and give him two weeks notice.
I will have Hoopla in my step for quite a while.
I'm lucky, there are White Castles all over Ohio. I can drive down Rt23 to the White Castle in Marion across the street from McDonald and Long John Silver and get a bunch of their burgers hot and fresh off the grill anytime. Now if I could be so lucky when I pick up my MM tickets for Friday's drawing.
What in the world are you talking about. The cash option in $198 million. Any American playing Euro Millions would have the same exact tax liabilities as an American playing Mega Millions (unless you want to break the law) so you can't say in any way that Euro Millions is "bigger". It's not.
It will probally go this Friday! There is a lot of hoopla going on with this drawing! Hope that I have one of the winning ticket/s. I think this jackpot will produce between 2-4 winners, maybe more if is won by a lottery pool. Good luck to everyone at LP. If I win I promise to keep my mouth shut and my mind open. lol
"You make a living by what you get, You make a LIFE by what you give!"
Sir Winston Churchill
Already have my ticket .............. but I was in line to purchase a Newspaper today and the lady in front of me dropped $40 on Mega Millions ............ I was gonna thank her for the donation ...................
How small of a town do people live in if they see lines to buy MM tickets? I live in a city of a little over 30,000 people and never seen a line for tickets. I could see if it was a small border town or something, but waiting in line to buy lotto tickets seems a little far fetched to me.
My prediction for this JP is 350-380 range, if nobody hits the next one passing 500 point.
$12 million would be just as life changing as $312 million to me, in that I could retire, travel, have nice things and do what I want with both. But if I have to choose, I guess I'll take the $312 million.
If this Mega Millions rolls over two more times,I'll guarantee their will be a Tsunami of people coming to my state of California.This state sure could use that money.I'm going to buy another $5.00 worth of Mega Millions tickets,bringing the grand total of $10.00 for Fridays game. "Good Luck" Lottery Post Members !!! .
If I win, I promise to keep my mouth shut and my wallet shut!
Does anyone know how long it takes an atty to form a trust?and after the check is cashed how long does it take for the money to be deposited to your bank?or do they give your atty a check.also do you have to be present?because If u do u know the lottery will have their cameras or eyewitness news there.
I believe it will take a few days for the trust to be created for all the paperwork to be in order. Since the winnings won't be available until about two weeks after the jackpot has been hit it shouldn't be an issue that the trust won't be formed immediately.
And there really isn't a check, from past articles and such I believe they to an EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) so the money should be available almost immediately after they send payment (of course as mentioned above, the lottery commision doesn't have all the money collected until up to two weeks later so it won't be until then that they'll be able to send your bank the money).
I could be mistaken, but from research that's what I've gathered from numerous websites and news stories.
As for their cameras being there, most likely the local news places will be there. I remember reading past articles where the winner had to inform the lottery commision when they were coming in to present the ticket, in which case the lottery commision then released news to the media/public that the winner has announced they would come in on a certain day. Also what I've gathered from past articles is that your lawyer can go and do everything for you. The articles don't make everything crystal clear but from what I read that has been done in a few cases.
Also I know in Texas you can ask for limited press coverage in which case they just have one person there asking you some questions, which you don't have to answer. No pictures and no video cameras.
In Michigan, your name and city of residence are considered public record for Mega Millions/Powerball jackpots. Funnily enough, 5+0 winners (Megaplier/PP or not) aren't. You may elect anonymity for any prize over $10,000 in Michigan for everything EXCEPT a MM/PB jackpot.
You are also required to call Lottery PR for any prize over $50,000 so they can "pre-validate your ticket and schedule an appointment to claim your prize." It also says "You may show up in person, but doing so may cause delays in the process of up to 3 hours."
Like I would mind waiting 4 hours for a $312M jackpot.... lol.
As for your lawyer doing it for you, this is true ONLY in states where the prize can be claimed in trust, such as Ohio. Michigan does not allow this, with one exception... lottery clubs. Only the representative of the club is required to claim the prize, as happened with the porn shop ticketholder... the club's rep came in and claimed the jackpot for the club, all the while not informing any of the media who the person was that actually bought the ticket or why they bought their ticket there. If you are not a member of a lottery club, you are required by state statute to claim the prize yourself. No 3rd party may do it for you.
I might go buy another dollar ticket today. Watch out BIG Spender in the house!