EVERETT — The Mega Millions jackpot is at the $1 billion mark for Friday’s drawing.
Two weeks in a row, tickets sold in Washington matched five of the six lottery numbers to win $1 million.
The winner last week was a Boeing machinist from Arlington who wished to remain anonymous.
In a news release Thursday, the unnamed man said he actually bought two tickets from the aptly named Jackpot Food Mart in Marysville.
The first $2 ticket won him $4.
Second time was the charm.
“After realizing he won big, the $1 million dollar winner spent the day with his family and took them out to dinner,” according to the statement from Washington’s Lottery. “He plans to use the winnings to pay for his daughter’s wedding and a new car, overdue renovation projects on their house and to spruce up the backyard.”
In this week’s Tuesday Mega Millions drawing, 11 tickets worth $1 million were sold, including another one in Washington. The state lottery office has not released information about that winner.
This week could be a lucky streak. Powerball’s $730 million was finally won on Wednesday after soaring at nearly the same pace as Mega Millions for four months.
The pot, at over $970 million on Thursday, is the second-largest in the history of Mega Millions. It is expected to surpass $1 billion based on the uptick sales by people chasing a lofty dream of rootin’-tootin’ riches.
No one has hit the grand prize since September, when a player in Wisconsin won $120 million.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 303 million for Mega Millions and 1 in 292 million for Powerball.
Mega Millions drawings are on Fridays and Tuesdays. The next Powerball drawing, for a mere $20 million, is Saturday.
Under Washington state law, the names of lottery winners are public record. Our state is overdue for someone to hit all six numbers. The nation’s largest jackpot in history was Powerball’s $1.586 billion, with three winning tickets sold — in California, Florida and Tennessee — in January 2016. The largest Mega Millions jackpot was $1.537 billion, with one winning ticket in South Carolina in October 2018.
The cash-only lump sum of $970 million is $716.3 million. To pinch every penny, take it as an annuity over 30 years.
After federal taxes, you’ll still have enough to buy a house in Seattle.
Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.
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