Lottery players are not the only ones hoping to win big when the winning numbers are drawn for Tuesday night’s estimated $1.1 billion Mega Millions jackpot ($568.7 million cash). Ticket sellers can earn a bonus of up to $1 million, depending on their state.
Payouts can happen even before those prizes are claimed.
The rules vary from state to state. Ohio, for example, pays up to $100,000 to retailers who sell jackpot-winning tickets. In Illinois, retailers can get up to a $500,000 bonus and in California, that benefit tops out at $1 million.
The state lotteries say it’s part of their efforts to encourage retailers to promote ticket sales. Some business owners say they also often see at least a temporary surge in business, as superstitious players stop off to buy their tickets at a spot where someone hit it big.
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Since someone won the jackpot in October, there have been 24 consecutive drawings without a winner.
There have been a total of more than 27.1 million winning tickets sold in the 24 drawings since the jackpot was last won on Oct. 14. These include 52 worth $1 million or more, won in 20 different states from coast to coast.
Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot ranks as the fifth-largest lottery prize and second-largest Mega Millions prize. The only Mega Millions jackpots larger than Tuesday’s estimated $1.1 billion are the game’s record of $1.537 billion, won in South Carolina on Oct. 23, 2018, and $1.337 billion won in Illinois last July 29.
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The biggest lottery jackpot was November’s record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot won in California.
The winner of that massive sum remains a mystery, although a ticket matching all six numbers drawn on Nov. 9 was sold at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena. The center’s owner Joe Chahayed was paid his $1 million bonus by lottery officials. He told reporters he planned to spend the money on his five children and would donate some of it to help his community.
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Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.