Alfredo Mora, 91, shows off his lottery ticket for a chance at the historic Mega Millions jackpot, that reached more than $600 million on Friday, March 30, 2012, in New York. After nobody won the March 27 drawing, the jackpot rolled over creating the largest pool of lottery money ever recorded in the world, according to the Mega Millions website. The previous record was $390 million. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Alfredo Mora, 91, shows off his lottery ticket for a chance at the historic Mega Millions jackpot, that reached more than $600 million on Friday, March 30, 2012, in New York. After nobody won the March 27 drawing, the jackpot rolled over creating the largest pool of lottery money ever recorded in the world, according to the Mega Millions website. The previous record was $390 million. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
A man checks his Mega Millions ticket before leaving Towne Market, Friday, March 30, 2012 in Phillipsburg, N.J. Lottery ticket lines swelled as the record Mega Millions jackpot grew to $640 million, thanks greatly to players who opened their wallets despite long odds of success. Officials estimated ticket-buyers will have spent more than $1.46 billion on the jackpot by the time Friday night's numbers are drawn. (AP Photo/The Express-Times, Matt Smith)
A customer walks out of the Riverside Travel Center in Hilton, Ga., late Friday night after purchasing a lottery ticket for the Mega Millions Lottery which reached an estimated jackpot of $645 million for Friday night's drawing. (AP Photo/Jay Hare, The Eagle)
Sal Cassar, left, sells a Mega Millions lottery ticket to Denie Morris, right, of Easton, Pa., Friday, March 30, 2012 in Phillipsburg, N.J. Lottery ticket lines swelled as the record Mega Millions jackpot grew to $640 million, thanks greatly to players who opened their wallets despite long odds of success. Officials estimated ticket-buyers will have spent more than $1.46 billion on the jackpot by the time Friday night's numbers are drawn. (AP Photo/The Express-Times, Matt Smith)
Kinju Patel and her husband, Kinjal Patel, owners of the 7-11 store in Northfield, N.J., sell lottery tickets for Mega Millions as a line forms in the store Friday, March 30, 2012. Across the country, Americans plunked down an estimated $1.5 billion on the longest of long shots: an infinitesimally small chance to win what could end up being the single biggest lottery payout the world has ever seen (AP Photo/The Press of Atlantic City, Vernon Ogrodnek)
RED BUD, Ill. (AP) ? Three lottery tickets sold in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland hit the world record-breaking $640 million Mega Millions jackpot, lottery officials said Saturday, leaving millions of players across the country with busted multi-millionaire dreams.
Illinois' winning ticket was bought at a convenience store in the small town of Red Bud, near St. Louis, and the winner used a quick pick to select the lucky numbers, Illinois Lottery spokesman Mike Lang said. Each winning ticket was expected to be worth more than $213 million before taxes.
"It's just unbelievable. Everyone is wanting to know who it is," said Denise Metzger, manager of the Motomart where the winning ticket was sold. "All day yesterday I was selling tickets and I was hoping someone from Red Bud would win. Never in my wildest dreams did I think this. I'm just tickled pink."
Local paramedic Dan Parrott walked away from the store with only $5 in winnings after checking his $40 worth of tickets, not enough for that new house, new car and the new ambulances he'd decided would help him spend the jackpot.
"I'd love to have all that money, but with all of that money comes responsibility," he said outside the store. "But it'd still be awesome."
In Maryland, television cameras were descending on the 7-Eleven in Baltimore County where the state's winning ticket was purchased. The harried manager could only repeatedly say "No interviews" to the reporters pressing for details, and customers pushed through the media crush for their morning coffee on Saturday.
Nyeri Murphy, holding two scratch-off tickets, said she normally plays Powerball but drove to neighboring Harford County to buy $70 worth of Mega Millions tickets this week. "I should have bought them here," she said.
None of Jackie Williams' tickets won, either, but she said it was "fabulous" that a winning ticket was sold near Baltimore city.
"It's like a small town," she said. "I'll bet I'll know someone who knows the winner."
Maryland does not require lottery winners to be identified; the Mega Millions winner can claim the prize anonymously. The store will receive a $100,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket, which was purchased Friday night.
The third winning ticket was purchased in northeast Kansas, but no other information would be released by the Kansas Lottery until the winner comes forward, spokeswoman Cara S. Sloan-Ramos said.
No winner had contacted the agency by Saturday morning, Kansas Lottery Director Dennis Wilson said. "Hopefully they're seeking good advice before coming in," he said.
Kansas law also allows lottery winners to remain anonymous, though lottery winners in Illinois are identified.
The winning numbers in Friday night's drawing were 02-04-23-38-46, and the Mega Ball 23.
Maryland Lottery spokeswoman Carole Everett said the last time a ticket from the state won a major national jackpot was in 2008, when a ticket won for $24 million.
"We're thrilled," she said. "We're due and excited."
The estimated jackpot dwarfs the previous $390 million record, which was split in 2007 by two winners who bought tickets in Georgia and New Jersey.
Americans spent nearly $1.5 billion for a chance to hit the jackpot, which amounts to a $462 million lump sum and around $347 million after federal tax withholding. With the jackpot odds at 1 in 176 million, it would cost $176 million to buy up every combination. Under that scenario, the strategy would win $171 million less if your state also withholds taxes.
From coast to coast, people stood in line at retail stores Friday for one last chance at striking it rich.
Maribeth Ptak, 31, of Milwaukee, said she only buys Mega Millions tickets when the jackpot is really big and she bought one Friday at a Milwaukee grocery store. She said she'd use the money to pay off bills, including school loans, and then she'd donate a good portion to charity.
"I know the odds are really not in my favor, but why not," she said.
Sawnya Castro, 31, of Dallas, bought $50 worth of tickets at a 7-Eleven. She figured she'd use the money to create a rescue society for Great Danes, fix up her grandmother's house, and perhaps even buy a bigger one for herself.
"Not too big ? I don't want that. Too much house to keep with," she said.
Willie Richards, who works for the U.S. Marshals Service at a federal courthouse in Atlanta, figured if there ever was a time to confront astronomical odds, it was when $640 million was at stake. He bought five tickets for Friday's drawing.
"When it gets as big as it is now, you'd be nuts not to play," he said. "You have to take a chance on Lady Luck."
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Associated Press reporters Jeffrey McMurray in Chicago, John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., Ed Donahue in Washington, Kasey Jones in Milford Mill, Md., Carrie Antlfinger in Milwaukee, Jamie Stengle in Dallas, and Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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