March 29, 2012

Because of unprecedented sales nationwide, the estimated jackpot for Friday’s Mega Millions drawing has been increased to $540 million.

Wednesday the multi-state Mega Millions lottery game reached a record jackpot of $500 million, the largest in U.S. lottery history.

Tuesday night's jackpot was $363 million, fed by weeks of drawings without a top winner. The previous record jackpot in the Mega Millions game was $390 million in 2007, split by two winners in New Jersey and Georgia.

Georgia Lottery officials say the jackpot reached $500 million on Wednesday. It has rolled 18 times since Marcia Adams of College Park won $72 million in the Jan. 24 drawing.

In Tuesday night's game, 47 players came very close, matching 5 of the 6 winning numbers. Each of those tickets is worth at least $250,000. The winning numbers Tuesday night were: Nine, 19, 34, 44 and 51. The Mega Ball was 24.

Mega Millions is played in more than 40 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A winner could get $19.2 million a year for 26 years or a single payment worth $359 million. The next drawing is Friday at 11 p.m.