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Four tickets share $330 million jackpot

RICHMOND, Virginia -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Someone in Virginia has a small slip of paper that has suddenly become incredibly valuable. That slip of paper is a Mega Millions ticket with the numbers 8-18-22-40-44 and the Mega Ball number 11. Those were the winning numbers in the August 31, 2007 Mega Millions drawing. That small piece of paper is now worth an estimated $82.5 million!

Now there is one overriding question: who has that winning ticket?

A total of four tickets nationwide matched all six numbers in the August 31 drawing, which means the estimated $330 million jackpot is split equally among them. The other three winning tickets were purchased in Maryland, Texas and New Jersey.

This is the second time in three months that a Mega Millions ticket purchased in Virginia has won the jackpot. On May 29, 2007, a ticket purchased in Henrico County won a $44 million jackpot.

In addition to the jackpot-winning ticket, four additional tickets purchased in Virginia each won $250,000 in Friday's drawing.

This is the second largest jackpot ever won in Virginia. The largest was a $239 million jackpot for the February 20, 2004 Mega Millions drawing. It was claimed six weeks later by retired truck driver J. R. Triplett of Winchester.

Mega Millions is played in 12 states: Virginia, California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas and Washington. Mega Millions drawings are held every Tuesday and Friday at 11:00 p. m. Eastern Time.

All profits from the Virginia Lottery, including Mega Millions tickets sold in Virginia, go to K-12 public school education in the Commonwealth. In fiscal year 2006 the Lottery turned over more than $454 million for Virginia's public schools, representing about 10 percent of state funding for public education in Virginia.

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