Mega Millions: Joy, disappointment after record jackpot drawing
After all the hype, there was disappointment in California but joy in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois, where winning Mega Millions tickets were sold for the record $640-million jackpot.
There was a silver lining for California. Twenty-nine tickets sold in the state had five of the numbers and were expected to pay off in the high hundreds of thousands of dollars, said Russ Lopez, a spokesman for the California Lottery, which monitors the game in the state.
Nine of the 29 tickets were sold in Los Angeles County -- five in Los Angeles, and one each in Montebello, Long Beach, Hawthorne and El Monte. A five-number ticket was also sold in Anaheim.
Southern Californians wanting in on the historic -- if astronomically small -- chance to be fabulously wealthy waited in lines for as long as five hours to get a stake in the dream, but many were turned away as their chance of getting to the cash register by Friday's 7:45 p.m. cutoff closed in.
Thousands of Nevadans drove to neighboring states to get in on the action, because Nevada doesn't participate in the massive twice-weekly gamble.
According to the Associated Press, Illinois' winning ticket was sold in the small town of Red Bud, near St. Louis. The winner used a quick pick to select the numbers, Illinois Lottery spokesman Mike Lang said. The Maryland Lottery said it sold a winning ticket at a retail store in Baltimore County. A winning ticket also was purchased in northeast Kansas, according to the Kansas Lottery website, AP said.
The winning numbers were 2-4-23-38-46, and the Mega Ball was 23.
Lottery officials had estimated that there was a 95% chance someone would win the jackpot Friday.
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Winning Mega Millions numbers: 2, 4, 23, 38, 46, and 23
-- Carol J. Williams and Matt Stevens
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