Winners in California, Georgia
Includes video report
Winning tickets for an estimated $636 million Mega Millions jackpot, the second biggest in U.S. lottery history, were sold in San Jose, California and Atlanta, Georgia, lottery officials said late on Tuesday evening.
There was no immediate word about who the winners were, but one winning ticket was bought at a retail location whose name was given as Jennifer's Gift Shop on Tully Road in San Jose, according to Alex Traverso, a lottery official in the western U.S. state.
A second winning ticket was bought at a Gateway Newstands convenience store on Lenox Road in Atlanta, a lottery official in the southeastern state said.
The winning numbers for Tuesday's drawing were: 8, 14, 17, 20, and 39, with Mega Ball number 7. The Megaplier number was 4.
The winners would split the jackpot, though they can each choose whether to claim the money as an annuity paid out over 30 years or as a lump sum cash payout, which would amount to half each of an estimated $341 million haul, the lottery said.
The prize swelled after a spike in sales ahead of Tuesday night's drawing. As much as 70 percent of the tickets are typically bought on the day of the drawing, said Paula Otto, Virginia's lottery director, who heads the multi-state Mega Millions game.
Ticket buying reached a fever pitch over the weekend, with 20 percent more chances sold than expected, Otto said.
The surge of spending pushed the prize closer to the record U.S. jackpot of $656 million, won in March 2012 in a Mega Millions drawing.
"We're awfully close, just $20 million. We're right on it," Otto said on Tuesday.
Totals would be updated again after the drawing, she said.
By Tuesday's drawing, players should have bought enough tickets to cover 65 percent to 75 percent of the 259 million possible number combinations to strike it rich, Otto said.
"You don't know you have a winner unless it's 100 percent covered, though," she said.
Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot was the accumulation of 21 consecutive drawings without a grand prize winner over a two-and-a-half month stretch. The final jackpot tally nearly eclipsed the world record jackpot of $656 million, set in March, 2012.
The two winners probably got very little sleep Tuesday night, as they try to process winning one of the world's largest lottery jackpots.
Are the winners running around the house screaming? Are they calling their family? Or maybe calling their boss to quit their job? What are they planning to do with all that loot?
What is the first thing you would do?
Fortunately, even if you didn't win the jackpot, the Mega Millions game still offers another 8 ways to win lower-tier prizes.
In addition to the jackpot winners, 20 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 2 from California, 1 from Delaware, 2 from Florida, 2 from Georgia, 1 from Illinois, 1 from Kentucky, 1 from Maryland, 1 from Michigan, 1 from Nebraska, 2 from New Jersey, 2 from New York, 1 from Ohio, 1 from South Carolina, 1 from Texas, and 1 from West Virginia.
The 2 California winners will each be awarded prizes of $2,621,916 because California awards all prizes in a pari-mutuel formula, which calculates the prize amount based on the number of tickets sold and the number of winners in each prize category.
Also, a whopping 631 tickets matched four of the first five numbers plus the Mega Ball to win a $5,000 prize. Of those tickets, 86 were sold in California, where the prize awarded this drawing is $3,347.
The Mega Millions jackpot was reset to its starting amount of $15 million for Friday's drawing. Due to the rules changes enacted in October, the jackpot will grow faster than before — it will increase a minimum of $5 million each drawing it is not won.
Mega Millions is currently offered for sale in 43 states, plus Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Mega Millions drawings are held each Tuesday and Friday evening at 11:00 p.m., and the winning numbers are published minutes later at USA Mega, a Web site devoted to the two biggest United States lotteries, Mega Millions and Powerball.
VIDEO: Watch the press report
All I can say is...I wish it had of been me LOL. No Good Luck and a Super Merry Christmas to the winners. Wouldnt it be great if it was somebody on unemployment and couldnt find a job or something like that and the got this huge financial blessing just in time...That's my Christmas wish
Congratulations to the winners. At least, the lottery fever will be at rest for now. We didn't win anything. We look forward to SLP later today as one ticket was bought for that as well.
Ironically that happened here in Ga where lady who was unemployed ask the clerk for a won on mega millions and accidentally gave her a PowerBook ticket and won 72 million but i doubt that's the case here bc this newsstand on Lenox rd is Located in a Upscale mall so it either a mall employee, shopper or the newsstand owner
well that was fun
I had fun, party pooper.
Congrats to the winners.
Not happy with MM starting cash is no different than before, despite the 'increase' of the annuity to $15m. Oh well, onward to Powerball! Woo hoo!
Congrats and Merry Christmas to the 2 lucky winners.
personally, I wish the jackpot rolled. It's going to take months for the JP to build up again.
I'm not sure why it takes the states so long to come up with a final jackpot tally for Mega Millions, but apparently the jackpot total for the Tuesday drawing could wind up being something like $648 million. Not the record, but pretty close.
Congrats to the lucky winners, On to the next!
Well, A bit disappointed it didn't roll at least once more but a hearty congrats to the winners!!! Be smart, careful and all the best!! I've got next!!!
luck changed two human live overnight from rag to riches style . congrats to the winners
For their sake I hope they don't blow it in 5 years like many other winners!
Speaking of, I wish the feds mandated that all states give the option of claiming anonymously. Down here in FL, if you win you can decline to take a photo but you still have to give out your name and city. That may be fine if someone's name is John Smith but when someone's name is like, well.... MINE it would be pretty easy to figure it out.
Down here, I'll continue to play the state lotto which is up to 46 million for tonight.
If it's in the Buckhead area the person who won can very well be from the riches side of the tracks already. I just hope the people are under the age of fifty as I hate seeing senior citizens win.
I was kind of shocked none of the 5 + 0 people played the Megaplier option.
2 tickets win the jp! WTG to those players. Where is the news on the lower tiered prizes? Anyone know?
I didn't win anything and really didn't expect to but I guess with my talk about I don't need THAT much, I
suppose someone was listening and didn't let me win any of it.
I'll change tunes next time the jp is up there: I NEED EVERY CENT OF IT. That should do it.
Shenanigans, time for an investigation! It can't be conicidence that the same state wins all the time. Oh and the state that the draws are done from coincidentally won too.
How do you know the winners weren't already rich or at the very least well off? Plenty of already well off people have won in the past.
You would have to be a special kind of stupid to blow through as much money as both will get in just five years.
Told ya it wouldn't make it to a billion.
Good for the winners!
Now maybe we can come down from Level 16 lottery insanity and revert back to the normal Level 3.
Keeping an open mind that they come forward in the next few weeks to claim. Age is a number and so is winning. So long as they are breathing and have a pulse, kudos for the win.
I was skeptically amazed that the numbers drawn were low numbers....They knew folks would play birthday numbers....Conspiracy? I think not, just the luck of balls.
San Jose is the land of the wealthy as well.
That is where a lot of the Silicon Valley millionaires live.
I was skeptically amazed that the numbers drawn were low numbers
All these neophobes complaining about the changes and look what happens. That's why i always play.
I hope that both winners are in their 60's!
That would be quite a waste.
Won $5 last night across two tickets, $1 on a regular pick and $4 on a quick pick with the Megaplier. :)
Barring Powerball doesn't go nuts over the next couple of months, we could be looking at another one of these monster Mega Millions jackpots come early March, just intime for my birthday.
I think I am really starting to like the new matrix, inspite of the odds.
Merry Christmas and congrats to the winners, both large and small!
I do believe that my neighbor said he was from Conyers GA
It would be great for someone with that has worked hard for many years to get a break!
It's not even remotely close to a record. Even if you're willing to accept the anuity value as a legitimate jackpot measure, by changing the terms of the annuity they've made it a complete farce to try and compare this drawing to any previous drawing on a dollar to dollar basis. It's like thinking somebody who weighs 400 pounds isn't fat if we weigh them in kilos.
Happy to see a ticket won out of GA. Congrats to the winners of the tickets.
I hope they enjoy their new found wealth.
I was hoping the ticket would roll over at least one more time. I'm looking forward to seeing a jackpot get really high past $800 million one of these days. Oh will guess we have to wait for that.
It was pretty close in terms of sales depending on how you looked at it. But we can't tell for sure because it was a mixed run, part old matrix, part new matrix.
On the previous record run, it took 19 draws to break $200M sales and then got won, and pulled in almost $1.5 Billion total. On the new matrix, if counting from the start of the new matrix 10/22, it took 17 draws to break $200M sales and then got won, and pulled in just under $1 Billion. One more draw would have been an undisputed record on the 18th draw.
Will be very interesting to see the next clean run on the new matrix, without the mix of the old matrix. And one not weighted down by the holidays, which I think negatively impacts sales. People are thinking more of giving, not buying lottery tickets for themselves. I know I do that. Sales got absolutely pummelled for the Black Friday draw, and if not for that, MM may have hit the "soft" record last night. It might be a while though, I'd expect a short run or two in the interim before the next big run.
The frenzy was well worth the dream. But I have awakened to my reality. Lol. But I pray for the winners. That they enjoy their enriched life, that they allow themselves to be ambassadors for will in the lives of others, and that no nightmares arise out of this blessing.
What a mean, rotten thing to say.
If you can't say something nice about someone, say nothing at all. Especially when you are telling millions of people that their life is a waste. Karma is a mean bitch and she bites hard.
The Ga winner should be coming forward soon bc I just got a text from my mom that her coworkers in-laws boss just told her employees she won and ofcoarse quit her job
That's funny, I like that:
Your mom's, co-worker's, in-law's, boss won the MM JP.
It's like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. (or separation)
Everyone must know a lottery JP winner within 6 steps.
LOL. That weird dude in California won't have a penny 6 months from now. It might be a fake story, "Paul Horner". :)
Edit: YES IT IS a fake story at prlog
Fack! F*#k! Fo$k! I picked all those numbers but I allowed my allegiance to certain "significant" numbers like birthdays to cloud my play. Consequently, I only put them on different lines. Won little money but all of those numbers which were not really significant came to me over a series of 2 days. Oh well, it would have been nice being one of those winners but there is always future drawings. Now back to work, you slave! Yes massa Obama!
I found it amusing as well.
Whats even funnier is that it was the boss telling her employees that she quit.
Did they find the Cali winner yet? I haven't seen any story except about the store that won in San Jose.
Wow, for $1, those two second prize California winners walked away with a lot more than those in the other states!
Congratulations to the winners.
Yeah right. Screw them.
I just read , their's a new conference and one winner will not be there . HOw can you collect your money if you aren't at the conference .
Unless your state is Anonymous ....
Congratulations to the winners
Some states don't require a news conference, they just require that they make your identity public. Gloria never gave a news conference but they tried to spring one on her. Called the press while she was there filling out paperwork.
Well the Georgia winner has already come forward to claim her money. I give her 5 years tops.
Why so fast , she didn't plan on average it takes 6 monthsall figured out .
Would never rush to get my money like that , always have a plan and 1/2 packed.
Well, I wouldn't say it takes 6 months, but it sure takes longer than 16 hours. Unless she has a lawyer and/or financial planner already lined up, her hotel room booked somewhere to stay until the furor dies down, and she's gotten a PO Box and changed her phone number between the win and now, she's not going to keep that money very long. She'll go the way of Abraham Shakespeare or Jack Whittaker. I'm not seeing how she could have everything planned and set up in 16 hours.
Time value of money
Unless she has already worked out an arrangement with a bank it will be several weeks before her account gets funded. In the meantime, she will be hounded by friends, strangers and many others looking for a handout.
Congrats to the two winners!!!
These were my predictions for last nights game:
*1st # even
*2nd # will NOT have a '2' in it
*3rd # odd
*4th # even
*MB 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9
5/5 correct! Again, congrats to the winners!
Surely she knows that it takes about 2 weeks for the lottery to collect the money
Congratulations!!! it's very nice to here we had two Lucky Blessed Winners for the Big Jackpot...I just pray they will use their winnings in a manner that's pleasing to The Lord.....I truly feel like if they will follow this path they want wind up like so many others I've heard of in the past that would wind up completely broke with-in only a few years....such stories as this are very sad to hear about causing so many Broken Hearts.
Just like she should know to have things organized and have her ducks in a row before claiming. But here she is. Lottery winners 'should' know a whole lot of stuff they don't actually know. And that's usually why they end up bankrupt inside of 5 years.
Its her Money, she can do what she wants.
When an NFL team wins the Superbowl, they don't get to touch the Trophy 6 months after the win.