South Georgia couple wins $270M Mega Millions lottery jackpot

Comment #55

mken32 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:52:54 GMT

ok... I found it nice picture of the winners

http://www.galottery.com/stc/mediacenter/pressDetail.jsp?id=5036181

Comment #54

mken32 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:23:39 GMT

did they go into witness protection did any heard anything about they picking up their fame day at the lotto office in Ga I was just curious... I want a picture so I can cut out their face and put me and my wife face on there body.....LOL

Comment #53

Lee — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:06:16 GMT

Congrats - Way to Go !!!

Wish I could have seen them when they won !!! It's almost like winning.

Lee

Comment #52

JackpotWanna — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:32:20 GMT

He won 275 Million not 270 million.

Comment #51

RJOh — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:02:14 GMT

Actually, the combination 1 2 3 4 5 +6 had 10 hits since the matrix changed.

01/15/08 21 30 42 44 50 +06

11/20/07 14 20 23 42 43 +06

10/16/07 01 02 05 41 44 +25

09/11/07 09 10 17 21 35 +06

04/06/07 24 32 34 36 39 +06

03/27/07 18 25 34 35 42 +06

01/05/07 02 12 44 46 51 +06

08/22/06 03 04 05 07 36 +16

04/18/06 13 14 25 34 50 +06

11/15/05 02 04 05 40 48 +07

That's better than the overall odds of getting a hit and probably better than most combinations that ha... [ More ]

Comment #50

KY Floyd — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:41:23 GMT

That makes 239 drawings, 7 of those had all numbers 31 or less.

7/239 = .029%

2.988% of the possible combinations in MM can be made with the numbers up to 31. Assuming you didn't miss one, or add one that fits the category it's actually rather surprising that the actual results are so close to theory.

For a while your posts have included the tag line that close doesn't count. How does it help you to play the percentages when close doesn't count? To win you have to get the right numbers... [ More ]

Comment #49

Coin Toss — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:48:20 GMT

KY Floyd

In the Statistics Method thread in thos forum RJOh posted:

Since its last matrix change, MegaMillions alone have had seven drawings where all the numbers were 31 or less.

09/27/05 - 14 17 26 27 28 +05

11/08/05 - 08 16 21 25 27 +16

03/21/06 - 04 16 17 28 31 +08

04/10/07 - 07 15 16 19 28 +10

06/15/07 - 01 05 16 26 30 +21

06/22/07 - 11 14 21 24 31 +23

02/22/08 - 07 12 13 19 22 +10

Then I added:

Ok, guesses on the number of drawings for the remainder of

Comment #48

justxploring — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:26:40 GMT

I agree with Coin Toss. Even though any combination of numbers can win, seeing all low numbers like this is extremely rare. I don't track PB or MM, but I can't find a single combination in FL that doesn't have one number in the 30s, 40s or 50s. I just glanced at all the winning Lotto combinations picked so far this year, the 104 picked in 2007 and the 104 picked in 2006, the 104 picked in 2005 --- and I can't even find one! Plus, keep in mind that our state Lotto has less than 1 in 23 million od... [ More ]

Comment #47

KY Floyd — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:23:49 GMT

Since the duplications are concentrated in only 3% of combinations for MM and 5.3% of the combinations in a 6/49 game we should expect more multiple winners in MM, assuming each game sells the same percentage of combinations. Selling more tickets makes any game more likely to produce more winners at every prize level.

If there were no duplicate combinations (and we know there were a lot) the 103 million tickets sold would have accounted for almost 59% of the combinations, so we could expect a... [ More ]

Comment #46

KY Floyd — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:08:08 GMT

You're asking the wrong questions, so you get the wrong answers. Think about this question: is there any reason at all that the winning combination was less likely to be drawn than any *one* of the other 175 million combinations? Perhaps you've heard that they only draw one winning combination?

The winning numbers are whatever they are, and every time they draw a set of winning numbers the result is the only combination that can be made from the 5 regular numbers and the 1 mega number that ar... [ More ]

Comment #45

psykomo — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 01:32:42 GMT

South Georgia (COPULE???)

TELL us what UR R GOING to DO??????????????????????????

PSYKOMO>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

LU'$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ YOU !

PLEASE>>>>>>>IISTEN>>>>>>>>>>Too>>>>>>>

THE FABRIC >>>

THE > FABRIC

THANK'$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

LOL

PSYKOMO... [ More ]

Comment #44

psykomo — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:04:20 GMT

CONGRAT'$$$$$$

UR the BEST>>>>>

LOL

PSYKOMO

Comment #43

Stack47 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:32:21 GMT

I meant a 6/49 game should have more multiple jackpot winners than Mega Millions when all the numbers are under 32. People that use birthdates are less likely to box their numbers in either game and even with all 6 numbers, having the correct mega ball is 1 chance in 6. They will either win the jackpot or have 4 + 0 and win $150.

Dividing the total ticket sales by 3.9 million gives a ballpark figure of how many 5 + 0 prize winners there should be. It would around 26 in this drawing so there

Comment #42

Coin Toss — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:19:34 GMT

KY Floyd

Why was it incredible they hit with all low numbers?

The numbers were 7 12 13 19 22, Mega 10

In a game with an upper matrix of 56 how many times do you think that all the numbers drawn have been no higher than 22?

If I paid you a dollar for every time that happened, would you be willing to pay me a dollar for every drawing that produced a number higher than 22? I'd even let you include before the matrix expanded.

I'll let you do the search, drawing by drawing....

MA... [ More ]

Comment #41

BazookaJoe — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:18:06 GMT

I agree. Luck played a big part. Joe

Comment #40

mken32 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:32:49 GMT

Dang I know what you mean getting so close and not winning the Jackpot... just ask the New England Patriots the same thing,,,, you know what you was closer than maybe alot of people that played Powerball... hang in there the last time I was that close was 1997 5 of 6 numbers in flalottery for 18 million I won only 1,267.00 that was it but I was happy for a few minutes and then started kicking myself

Comment #39

KY Floyd — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:57:53 GMT

Why is it incredible that they hit MM with all low numbers considering the matrix ?

As Lucky Larry speculated, they chose the MB of 10 for October, but the article I saw suggested that there wasn't any specific reason for choosing it. Since they apparently had only 5 birthdays to choose from they were guaranteed at least 5+0, given the results.

Comment #38

KY Floyd — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:56:30 GMT

We would have to see how many 5 + 0 and 4 + 1 winners to check the theory that all low numbers produce more winners. That effect might be true on 6/49 games but not so obvious on Mega or Powerball.

I'd suggest that the effect should be more obvious with MM and PB. The larger the matrix, the more the distribution will be skewed if people are more likely to choose birthday numbers than other numbers. At the extreme, every combination in a 5/31 game uses all birthday numbers. For a 6/49 game 5.... [ More ]

Comment #37

ezcheff — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:34:43 GMT

Congrats to the Couple They are going to have lots new friends very quickly . Well I guess you win some and then you lose a lot thats how it goes with me I also used birthday numbers but unfortunately I didnt have anyone with the number 12 or the mega ball 10 so I guess I will settle for $100

Comment #36

sirbrad — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:51:24 GMT

Must be nice. I bought $5 in tickets for powerball and got 4 of 5 for $100. I was pissed though, thought it was all clicking then it stopped. One more number $200,000! Or the powerball for $10,000, and both number the jackpot! That sucked worse than getting no numbers

Comment #35

Guru101 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:29:35 GMT

Congratulations to the winners, however I wouldn't want to go public before claiming the jackpot. All that media right in front of their house letting the world know who it was that won, and I'm sure the neighbors were hitting them up for money the second they heard the words lottery winners . I don't have a problem going public at the time of claiming, but not before. All that ticket is, is a fragile piece of paper.

Comment #34

Stack47 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:02:38 GMT

The jackpot was $164 so their only choice was if they wanted the lottery to buy them a 26 year $270 million annuity. How do you know they won't parlay what they get after taxes into $500 million?

If they were smart, they would get a financial advisor now.

Unless they are planning on turning all of it into cash and stuffing their mattresses, they will get plenty of financial advice. I wonder what kind of advice a financial advisor would give them before spending the 2 bucks to play their... [ More ]

Comment #33

LOTTOMIKE — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:51:44 GMT

The couple opted for the cash option, bringing their winnings down to $164 million....

LOL!!! bringing their winnings DOWN to $164 million....

i'd love to bring mine down to 164 million

Comment #32

LOTTOMIKE — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:50:22 GMT

love stories like these.especially when people pick their own numbers.wow 270 million......

Comment #31

iwillwin — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:31:55 GMT

The couple opted for the cash option, bringing their winnings down to $164 million.

If they were smart, they would get a financial advisor now. Even in relatively safe accounts, you can earn about 5% without thinking. That would be 8.2 Million a year, and NEVER touching the principal.

Comment #30

Stack47 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:19:26 GMT

If they used the six birthdates from oldest to youngest, the baby of the group's birthday by default would be the mega ball.

LUCK

Of course, because they could have used the reverse order and the oldest's birthday would have been the mega ball and they would have a 4 - 0 winner for $150. All 6 birthdays matched the 6 winning numbers so they had a 1 of 6 chance of putting them in the correct order to match the mega ball. Any of the other 5 orders would give them a $150 win.

In the inte... [ More ]

Comment #29

peterslliu — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:13:46 GMT

Gooooood luck!!!

Hide now. Take care

Comment #28

wizeguy — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 03:52:50 GMT

Congrats to Mr Mrs Harris! Now you can do the things you only dreamed of

Comment #27

mken32 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 03:42:19 GMT

I had 12 and 19... and mega 10

Comment #26

LckyLary — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:29:19 GMT

The woman from Lowell, MA if that's who you mean, must be doing OK because there are no horror stories about her that I know of; I notice that grandparents have better odds of winning on low number sets on self-picks because they have enough grandkids with ages in that number range to use those numbers in a 5+1. It didn't say whether a birthday was thought of for the 10, just it was randomly chosen for October (wedding anniv.? maybe?) also notice they didn't need 115 tickets, only 2 (like when I... [ More ]

Comment #25

ThatScaryChick — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:07:08 GMT

I'm sure it's real. Hopefully, they won't have problems with beggers and scammers. They seem like a nice couple.

Comment #24

JackpotWanna — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:57:06 GMT

Cool video...

Good simple folks won.

I wish he did some homework before going public. Why put grandchildren in the video?

I'll bet he is not sleeping tonight guarding the ticket.

Comment #23

mken32 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:33:44 GMT

They showed the Ticket via the interview it look like the real deal to me http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/02/23/ga.mega.millions.lotto.winner.wsav and you'll see the ticket wow he dont know what he's in for he's a brave man..... My hat is off to him and his family God bless them.

Comment #22

NightTrain1234 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:17:50 GMT

Congrats to them IF they really won. They should have sought financial advice and turned in their ticket first before discussing it publicly. IF they really won.

Comment #21

lottocalgal — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:00:31 GMT

Congratulations!

But they forgot the stay invisible. Full names and a clear national video of what they look like. If you win it , they will come

Comment #20

justxploring — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:46:05 GMT

Wow, so true. I never really thought about that. Yes, they used 6 birthdays and any one of them could have been the Mega Ball.

Comment #19

bashley572 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:42:23 GMT

Yea, I was kinda shocked how open they were with the ticket talking to the media so soon.

Comment #18

Coin Toss — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:39:18 GMT

Not only is it incredible that they hit MM with all low numbers considering the matrix, but as somone else pointed out, what made her pick the right birthday for the lower grid?

They played a $2 ticket so there was no wheel involved, yet of six birthdays she chooses the right one for the Mega Millions number.

LUCK.

Comment #17

justxploring — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:20:37 GMT

Robert and Tonya Harris from Bulloch County, Georgia became millionaires Friday night when their Mega Millions numbers, 12, 22, 19, 7, 13, and mega number 10, were drawn.

Okay - now where are all those posts I've read about not playing all low numbers because you'll wind up splitting the jackpot with lots of other people?

My birthday is 19, my sister's birthday is 10, my Dad's is 7 ..... wait a minute. They stole my numbers

Comment #16

wantmoney — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:02:17 GMT

They are lucky . Cong !!!

but i love seeing a group of workers win big jackpot.

Comment #15

wantmoney — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:00:08 GMT

0 of 20, me

Comment #14

computerhead723 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:56:10 GMT

he was an Iron worker they do alright as far as cash is concerned .....but the 270 million would have been better spent by me

Comment #13

mken32 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:50:21 GMT

I notice the winning couple only spent 2 bucks and I spent 5 bucks for three draws my total was 15.00 and won 10.00 I stillhave one more drawing to go .... should I only do 1 buck a week or more cause the odds are totally against me... how many people spent a 1000 bucks and won nothing this couple spent 2 dollars and won you do the math......

Comment #12

chasingadream — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:40:07 GMT

I love it when I read stories like this of people who win...... regular working class people that get a lil bit of luck that helps change their lives.

Comment #11

konane — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:28:22 GMT

Small town where everyone knows everyone else, news travels fast ... speculation to conclusion even faster. BTW welcome to LP!

Congratulations to them, totally awesome win!!! Wish them the very best in all their endeavors

Comment #10

JackpotWanna — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:53:18 GMT

Dang! I bought $35 worth of tickets and won only $6.

Comment #9

dearlord — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:42:50 GMT

Wow they talked to the media and waived the actual ticket around before they can even claim it? How did the media even find out

Comment #8

mken32 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:34:19 GMT

Wow that's awesome.. I've bought tix in South Georgia and said wow I started sweating I thought that I had won.....but nothing only 10 bucks I am cool now but will eventally win this year Jackpot...... I will Like a ROCK til then.....

Comment #7

ThatScaryChick — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:26:04 GMT

Congrats to the couple they are indeed lucky

Comment #6

Litebets27 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:16:34 GMT

Your right. I wonder how she's doing? I believe she was a single Mom with 5 children. I hope that she is doing well.

litebets

Comment #5

JWBlue — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:47:57 GMT

A couple of years ago for a $280 million dollar jackpot it was a maid who only bought 1 ticket that was the winner.

Comment #4

Bradly_60 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:28:18 GMT

It was birthday numbers....I was right...haha. Congrats to them!

Brad

Comment #3

Litebets27 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:27:41 GMT

Congratulations to the lucky couple.

They will now lavish themselves in all that we all only dream of.

(I don't know about the GMC with the extended Cab)

SORRY!!!

litebets

Comment #2

MissNYC — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:22:34 GMT

I wonder how they allotted which grandchild to the megaball...after all, that made all the difference. Eh well...my time will come...come on powerball

Comment #1

NBey6 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:20:29 GMT

Congratulations Mr. Mrs. Harris

South Georgia couple wins $270M Mega Millions lottery jackpot

Lottery Post — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:15:20 GMT

The grand prize in this week's Mega Millions lottery drawing, $270 million, will go to one couple from South Georgia.

Robert and Tonya Harris from Bulloch County, Georgia became millionaires Friday night when their Mega Millions numbers, 12, 22, 19, 7, 13, and mega number 10, were drawn.

In an interview posted on WSAV.com, the couple said they rarely play the lottery, but this time the couple used their grandchildren's birthdays, something they've never done before. They're my life. Them g... [ More ]