One ticket matching all six numbers was sold in Florida in the Mega Millions lottery jackpot of an estimated $450 million, the fourth largest in the game’s history, the lottery said after Friday’s drawing.
The numbers drawn were 28, 30, 39, 59, 70 and 10.
The identity of the ticket holder or holders was not announced by lottery officials. The Mega Millions drawing has a $281-million payout if the winner selects a lump-sum payment.
Long odds have not halted the spread of “lottery fever”, with people lining up to buy the $2-tickets at retailers, said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, whose members sell about 60 percent of the nation’s lottery tickets.
“There’s definitely more traffic,” Lenard said.
Americans spent $80.5 billion on lottery games last year, according to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.
The odds of picking the right six numbers for the Mega Millions jackpot are 303 million to 1, the game said.
“When the jackpots reach these levels, everyone starts to daydream about what they would do if they won,” Gordon Medenica, Mega Millions lead director, said in a statement.