Mega Millions jackpot soars

UNITED STATES – (PRESS RELEASE) -- The Mega Millions game is certainly living up to its name and is now offering a mega-sized jackpot of an estimated $340 million for the Tuesday, March 6, 2007 drawing. That's because no ticket matched all six numbers in Friday's Mega Millions drawing.

This is the largest Mega Millions jackpot since the game changed from The Big Game in May of 2002. Before the game changed to Mega Millions, the largest jackpot in The Big Game was $363 million in May of 2000.

A total of 2,624,669 tickets across the nation won prizes in the Friday, March 2 Mega Millions drawing. That includes 14 tickets that each won $250,000 and 136 tickets that each won $10,000.*

The winning numbers were: 14-21-33-35-51 and the Mega Ball number was 43.

Those 14 tickets each matched the first five numbers and only missed the Mega Ball number. They were purchased in California (3), Massachusetts (1), Maryland (1), Michigan (2), New Jersey (2), New York (2), Ohio (2) and Washington (1).

This jackpot has been growing since January 9, when Mega Millions had its most recent jackpot winner. The jackpot has now rolled 15 times without a winner. The odds of winning the jackpot are approximately 1 in 176 million. The odds of winning any of the Mega Millions prizes are approximately 1 in 40.

Mega Millions is played in 12 states: California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

Mega Millions drawings are held Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 PM Eastern Time, 10:00 PM Central Time and 8:00 PM Pacific Time.