The US in the grip of lottery mania ahead of tonight’s Mega Millions jackpot draw which has reached a jaw-dropping $540 million (€407 million).
Officials say the cash prize, which has not been won since late January, is the biggest lottery jackpot in history.
“This is the all time record for any lottery, including the El Gordo lottery in Spain," said Elias Dominguez, a spokesman for the California Lottery, which began offering Mega Millions in 2005.
"We usually see a huge increase in the number of people buying tickets, so the jackpot could well go up again before Friday" when the next winning numbers are picked, he added.
Tandi Reddick, a spokeswoman for the Georgia lottery where the actual drawing of numbers takes place, said peak sales hours on Friday are typically during the evening as people are on their way home from work.
Mega Millions is one of the largest multi-state lottery games in North America and is played in 42 states, plus Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Players pay $1 for a ticket and must pick five numbers from 1 to 56 plus a Mega number from 1 to 46 to win the jackpot. The odds of winning are 1 in about 176 million, according to the official Mega Millions website.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot ever won was $390 million in March 2007, when the prize was split between two tickets sold in Georgia and New Jersey.
Additional reporting Reuters