newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Many of us would be thrilled to win its opening $12 million. But the Mega Millions jackpot is reaching the rarified air of one of the largest prizes ever seen in the United States lottery.

No one won the Mega Millions jackpot last night, allowing the sum to grow to a staggering $304 million, bigger than all but 11 jackpots in U.S. lottery history.

Philly.com reports that prize could grow if sales exceed projections. After no one hit for $242 million on Dec. 31, the prize was set at $290 million in early January. Before the next drawing, that was raised to $330 million, then $355 million. Once sales were tallied, the annuity payout was revised to $380 million.

According to official reports, it's the sixth biggest Mega Millions prize of all time, and the 12th largest ever for any U.S. lottery. Lotterypost.com reports this is only the tenth time in the history of United States lotteries that a lottery jackpot has cleared the $300 million mark.

The largest lottery winner record for a single ticket comes from the Powerball lottery. According to lotteryuniverse.com, eight co-workers from Nebraska meat processing plant bought a single ticket that earned them $365,000,000 during the draw held on February 18, 2006.

The record $390 million jackpot of March 2007 soared from the previous drawing's $275 million. So if no one wins on Friday, next Tuesday’s drawing would have a good chance to be the biggest ever.

The second largest prize of all time was $380 million in the fairly recent Mega Millions drawing. The cash payout of $240 million there was biggest ever.

Philly.com has a list of the 25 largest lottery payouts of all time here.

By the way, the jackpot for tonight’s Powerball drawing stands at $101 million. Nice, but has anyone noticed?