Texas is the largest state in the 11-member Mega Millions multistate lottery game, and it's the only one that hasn't had a jackpot winner. State lottery officials hope that dubious distinction ends with Friday night's drawing. On Thursday, the jackpot was bumped up to a stratospheric $290 million.
"If other states can have jackpot winners, we can too," said lottery director Reagan Greer.
To be fair, Texas has been part of Mega Millions for just six months. And it's had its share of supersized jackpots in its own Texas Lotto game, including the $145 million booty two weeks ago that will soon be claimed by a winner from El Paso.
The recent big jackpots in both games made June the most successful month for ticket sales in Texas since it went into the lottery business in 1992. According to the Texas Lottery Commission, $391.6 million worth of tickets were sold during the 30-day period that ended Wednesday.
The jackpots rise each time a drawing takes place and no one matches all the numbers in play. With the odds of winning the lotto at about 1 in 48 million and Mega Millions at about 1 in 135 million, it's easy to see how the pots add up.
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