The last of the really big money pre-COVID-19 lottery jackpots has been won. There was a winner in last night's drawing (June 9, 2020) in the multi-state Mega Millions lottery game.

The jackpot was estimated to be $410 million at the time the ping pong balls dropped last night just before 10 pm Louisiana time. When they dropped, the numbers that appeared on the screen were:

01, 05, 09, 10,23 MB 22 Megaplier x2

That single ticket was reported to have been sold in Arizona. Darn, I thought for sure Louisiana's lottery luck was going to claim a winner on this one. But I guess we can only win most of the time instead of all the time.

What makes this lottery win significant is that it will likely be a long time before a lottery jackpot for a game like Mega Millions or Powerball reaches such a high dollar amount. The COVID-19 pandemic is the reason. Lottery officials have already announced changes in the way they will be funding those jackpots, at least for the foreseeable future.

The reason for the change in the way the jackpots are calculated has to do with decreased ticket sales during the pandemic. Both Powerball and Mega Millions have reduced starting jackpot amounts from $40 million to $20 million. The games are also adjusting the way the jackpot totals are increased each week based on ticket sales.

 

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