The latest Mega Millions run is over after the jackpot was won last week, leading lotteries like the Virginia Lottery to calculate the impact of such a prolonged period of draws on its business.
Through the 26 draws beginning Oct 18, there were more than 40.3 million winning tickets across all prize tiers, culminating in a Maine State Lottery player picking up the $1.35bn prize on Friday, the second-largest Mega Millions jackpot of all time.
The Virginia Lottery may not have produced a winner this time around but the organisation hasn’t been shy to outline the lucrative nature of the run.
In Friday night’s drawing alone, 201,739 Mega Millions tickets bought in Virginia won prizes ranging from $2 to $10,000.
Sales of Mega Millions tickets in the state generated an estimated $28.9m in profit, though all of this, by law, has to be given to K-12 public education in the Commonwealth.
In FY22, the lottery raised more than $779m for K-12 education, making up approximately 10% of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.
This year of operations included total lottery sales of $3.75m, of which a record $2.67bn was paid out to players in prizes.