Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots inching closer to $1 billion combined
ST. GEORGE — Two jackpots, the Mega Millions and the Powerball, have reached a combined total of $999 million Sunday, and are inching ever closer to the $1 billion mark, prompting some Utahns to make the 25-mile trek to purchase tickets in Arizona.
Beaver Dam Station and Bar, located at 401 Old Highway 91, in Littlefield, Arizona — just 25 miles south of St. George on Interstate 15 — sells lottery tickets, and store employee Danni White told St. George News it receives a good share of Utah buyers.
“We get them every day, and quite a few Utah customers come in once or twice a week to buy tickets for the next week’s drawing,” White said.
Overall lottery sales have been steady and “sometimes constant,” White said, adding that lottery customers are routinely lined along the isles of the store and even outside of the store at times.
“We sell a lot of lottery tickets here, and it keeps us busy,” White said, “and when the jackpots are very high, we’ve had lines going around the outside of the store.”
The Mega Millions jackpot is now the third largest in the game’s history after no one matched all six numbers in Friday night’s drawing, and is now at $654 million, inching ever closer to the record breaking $656 million prize from March 30, 2012.
In total, there were 1,494,695 winning tickets at all prize levels in the Oct. 9 drawing.
Mega Millions is a multi-state lottery and one of America’s two biggest lottery jackpot games. Jackpots start at $40 million, and other prizes pay from $1-2 million or more with a Megaplier.
America’s other big national game Powerball has jumped to an estimated $354 million, with no overall winner in Saturday’s drawing. The last big Powerball payout was $245 million, won on Aug. 11, 2018. The Powerball lottery jackpot is one of America’s two big multi-state games held in 44 states.
The two jackpots exceed $999 million combined.
One lucky lottery player hit the $60 million Powerball jackpot in 2017 after reportedly purchasing their ticket at the Scenic General Store in Littlefield, Arizona.
But you may not want to quit your day job just yet. The odds of winning is roughly 1 in 259 million for Mega Millions and 1 in 292 million for its cousin, Powerball.
For more information, visit Mega Millions website or the Powerball website.
Email: cblowers@stgnews.com
Twitter: @STGnews
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.