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Lottery tickets – including for the "Mega Millions" game – are sold in gas stations across Georgia. (Credit: Beau Evans for State Affairs)
By now you’re acutely aware you’re not holding the winning ticket to this week’s $810 million Mega Millions Jackpot. That honor goes to a Texan who matched all six numbers.
Take solace, though, knowing your weekly spending on lottery tickets in Georgia helps preschoolers get an early educational start and pays students’ way through college via the HOPE Scholarship.
While the jackpot grew from June through Tuesday, Mega Millions generated $17.42 million for HOPE and Georgia’s pre-K programs, according to the Georgia Lottery Corp. The jackpot also paid out nearly $4.5 million in prizes to lottery players.
The winner of this week’s jackpot is looking at a cash option of $409.3 million. Those Texans sure are lucky. Tuesday’s win is the 15th Mega Millions jackpot won in Texas since the Lone Star State joined the game in December 2003.
Tuesday’s jackpot is the largest Mega Millions ever won in September and the seventh largest jackpot in the game’s history. The drawing also produced 2.1 million other winning tickets nationwide.
Just so you know, Georgians are among the nation’s most lottery-obsessed folks, according to Lottery Geeks study. Peach State residents are the seventh biggest lottery spenders, having bought nearly $5.7 billion worth of lottery tickets in 2023. With nearly 11 million residents in the state, that comes to about $520 per person annually.
The study used data from the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries’ 2023 Lottery Sales Report. Rhode Island, with a population of 1.1 million, spent the most on lottery tickets, with residents shelling out an average of $939 per person last year. Rhode Islanders also made the most money in lottery prizes, winning an average of $397 each.
All Georgia Lottery profits pay for specific educational programs. Since 1993, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned over $28.3 billion to the state for education. More than 2.1 million students have received HOPE Scholarships and over 2.2 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary pre-K program.
To all the lottery loyalists out there: Another Mega Millions drawing, with an estimated $20 million jackpot, will happen Friday.
Have questions, comments or tips? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
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