Mega Millions lottery ticket buyers test luck for $1.15 billion jackpot

(27 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Alameda, California - 26 December 2024
1. Various of Eduardo Rubio buying Mega Millions tickets at Bonfare Market
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Eduardo Rubio, lottery ticket buyer:
"This is the only way that we can have our money."
3. Various of Raymond Corral buying Mega Millions tickets at Chestnut Encinal Market
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Raymond Corral, lottery ticket buyer:
++COVERED++
"Trying to get lucky on the Mega."
5. Mega Millions jackpot sign
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Raymond Corral, lottery ticket buyer:
"It's over a billion, without a doubt. So, hey, any good numbers are good numbers. So let's see what happens, you know."
7. Close up of Mega Millions ticket
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Raymond Corral, lottery ticket buyer:
++COVERED++
"It's impossible to win, but you never know unless you try."
9. Mega Millions info on screen
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Raymond Corral, lottery ticket buyer:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"If I won, I would make all my family very happy and my friends. If you donate half of it to schools, well that would work, too, because schools need help. So with all that money, you know, it's more money than I could ever spend in my life. So just to make a lot of people happy. That's what I want to do."
11. Mega Millions info on screen
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Raymond Corral, lottery ticket buyer:
++COVERED++
"For anyone that plays it, they're all hoping, you know, to win the big one, you know? Or a portion of the big one, you know?"
13. Mega Millions ticket
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Raymond Corral, lottery ticket buyer:
"Because if you don't play, you can't win. So you have to give it a shot."
STORYLINE:
Hang onto those stocking-stuffer lottery tickets.

The Mega Millions jackpot has surpassed $1 billion after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Christmas Eve.

That means the estimated jackpot for Friday's drawing is $1.15 billion, potentially the fifth-largest jackpot in the game's history.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium said in a Wednesday statement.

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350, while the odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24, according to lottery officials.

Tickets for the game are sold in 45 states, along with Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Mega Millions tickets are $2 a piece. Half of the proceeds from the sale of each ticket remains in the state where the ticket was sold.

Drawings are held at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Fridays.

===========================================================

Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/fe0af76a96c04019a1c910c44bfd7605