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 There was no immediate word about who won, but the winning ticket
was bought at a retail location on Tully Road in San Jose,
California, according to Alex Traverso, a lottery official in the
western U.S. state.
The winning numbers for Tuesday's drawing were: 8, 14, 17, 20, 39
and 7, according to the lottery's website, Megamillions.com.
"There could be more, that's the only one we know right now,"
Traverso said.
If the winner chooses to take the lump sum cash option, instead of
payments over 30 years, the jackpot would be $341 million, the
lottery said.
The prize swelled after a spike in sales ahead of Tuesday night's
drawing. As much as 70 percent of the tickets are typically bought
on the day of the drawing, said Paula Otto, Virginia's lottery
director, who heads the multi-state Mega Millions game.
At a corner grocery store on Manhattan's Upper East Side, ticket
buyers lined up for a chance to strike it rich, and shared their
dream shopping lists.
"I would give at least half of it to my church," said Keith Boyd,
pastor at the nearby Trinity Baptist Church, who bought 20 tickets
to give away as gifts while keeping one for himself. "It would be a
way to bless others."
Syed Waheed, a 37-year-old immigrant from Afghanistan who bought a
single ticket, said he would use the fortune to bring his entire
family to the United States.
Ticket buying reached a fever pitch over the weekend, with 20
percent more chances sold than expected, Otto said.
The surge of spending pushed the prize closer to the record U.S.
jackpot of $656 million, won in March 2012 in a Mega Millions
drawing.
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"We're awfully close, just $20 million. We're right on it," Otto
said on Tuesday.
Totals would be updated again after the drawing, she said.
By Tuesday's drawing, players should have bought enough tickets to
cover 65 percent to 75 percent of the 259 million possible number
combinations to strike it rich, Otto said.
"You don't know you have a winner unless it's 100 percent covered,
though," she said.
Although at least one ticket matched the exact combination of
numbers that appear on six randomly selected lottery balls, if no
one claims the prize it will keep ballooning until the next drawing
on Friday, when the numbers were projected to jump to a $950 million
jackpot with a $509 million cash option.
"We've never had a jackpot this high the week before Christmas,"
said Otto.
"You like to see winners and you like to see big jackpots. I leave
it in the hands of the bouncing balls," Otto added.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Dilts;
editing by Andre Grenon
and Vicki Allen)
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