COLUMBIA, SC (December 12, 2013) – Lottery players from coast to coast are lining up for the hottest jackpot of the holiday season. Friday night’s Mega Millions® drawing is for an estimated $400 million, the second-largest jackpot in Mega Millions® history, and the fifth-largest seen in North America.
The winner will have a choice between a cash payout of $216.4 million or the full jackpot amount paid in 30 payments of about $12 million each.
Players in South Carolina hope that decision falls to one of their own in a repeat performance of what occurred in September, when a Powerball® ticket worth nearly the same amount, $399 million, was sold in Lexington.
The occasion would mark South Carolina’s first Mega Millions® jackpot win.
The run up to the $400 million jackpot began October 1 and has rolled 20 times without a winner.
Odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 259 million. The odds of winning any Mega Millions® prize are approximately 1 in 15.
Mega Millions holds the record for the largest jackpot ever, at $656 million. That jackpot on March 30, 2012, was split by three winning tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.
Mega Millions is played in 45 jurisdictions (43 states plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands).
South Carolinians looking to take a chance on the $400 million jackpot, must purchase their tickets by 10 p.m. on Friday for the 11 p.m. drawing.
Good luck, South Carolina!
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The winner will have a choice between a cash payout of $216.4 million or the full jackpot amount paid in 30 payments of about $12 million each.
Players in South Carolina hope that decision falls to one of their own in a repeat performance of what occurred in September, when a Powerball® ticket worth nearly the same amount, $399 million, was sold in Lexington.
The occasion would mark South Carolina’s first Mega Millions® jackpot win.
The run up to the $400 million jackpot began October 1 and has rolled 20 times without a winner.
Odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 259 million. The odds of winning any Mega Millions® prize are approximately 1 in 15.
Mega Millions holds the record for the largest jackpot ever, at $656 million. That jackpot on March 30, 2012, was split by three winning tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.
Mega Millions is played in 45 jurisdictions (43 states plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands).
South Carolinians looking to take a chance on the $400 million jackpot, must purchase their tickets by 10 p.m. on Friday for the 11 p.m. drawing.
Good luck, South Carolina!
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