Mega Millions Winning Ticket Sold In South Carolina
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/CNN) - If you had dreams of winning the Mega Millions' jackpot, we hate to break it to you - sorry.
There was a winner, however.
Lottery officials say a ticket sold in South Carolina matched all five numbers and the Mega Ball to hit it big.
"Our message to the $1.5 BILLION #Mega Millions jackpot winner: Sign the back of the ticket, place the ticket in a safe location, speak with a trusted advisor and CALL THE LOTTERY at 1-866-736-9819. Take a deep breath and enjoy the moment!" the South Carolina Education Lottery tweeted.
Mega Millions officials say at the time of the drawing, the jackpot was $1.537 billion, just short of the record for all lotteries.
With a one-time cash option, the unidentified winner will walk away with a cool $913.7 million.
"This is truly a historic occasion. We're so happy for the winner, and we know the South Carolina Education Lottery can't wait to meet the lucky ticket holder," said Gordon Medenica, lead director of the Mega Millions group.
The numbers drawn Tuesday night were 5, 28, 62, 65 and 70, and the Mega Ball was 5.
A whopping 36 tickets nationwide matched five of the six numbers for second-prize tickets.
Three tickets sold in Florida won a million dollars each, there was also a three million dollar winner.
Mega Millions beats its own jackpot record(/strong>
Mega Millions is played in 44 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the US Virgin Islands. A ticket costs $2 -- and the winner beat the odds of 1 in 302 million.
The jackpot has been rolling since July 24, when a California office pool of 11 co-workers shared a $543 million prize. Before Wednesday, the Mega Millions record was a $656 million jackpot in March 2012.
The next Mega Millions drawing is Friday, and the jackpot will reset itself to $40 million -- or $22.8 million cash.
But wait ... there's still the Powerball
The Powerball drawing is tonight and the jackpot for that is an estimated $620 million.
The Powerball has climbed since the last winning ticket in New York took home the jackpot in August, and has had 20 drawings since then without a winner. Wednesday's will be the third-largest Powerball jackpot.
The cash value is $354.3 million.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot is 292.2 million to one.
You can watch Powerball drawing on CBS4, your official lottery station, tonight at 11 p.m. right before the CBS4 News at 11.
