SACRAMENTO – Labor Day has come and gone, but pick the winning numbers to the $114 million MEGA Millions jackpot, the 2nd largest jackpot in the world, and you could be back on holiday before you know it, permanently.
What kind of holiday could a $114 million jackpot buy? For starters, the winner could become only the 5th space tourist in the world, blasting off to the final frontier for $20 million. The price tag includes a six-month training course and a ride aboard the Soyuz Russian Rocket to the International Space Station. After deep space, the lucky player could also consider exploring another exotic realm closer to home: the abyss of the deep ocean. Mini-subs called Mir One and Mir Two used by James Cameron to film the Titanic wreck are only $20 million each. Slightly larger than a cube van, each Mir can take three people to 20,000 feet under the ocean and work at that depth for eight hours. The winner could commission both the deep space and deep sea expedition and still have change left over to live in the lap of luxury for many years to come.
The $114 million MEGA Millions jackpot is currently the world’s 2nd largest lottery prize and the 6th largest in California Lottery history. Since California joined MEGA Millions in 2005, four MEGA Millions jackpots have been won by Californians for a total of $472 million.
Lottery winners are not the only ones who benefit. Public education receives at least 34 cents of every dollar players spend on Lottery products. The California Lottery contributed a record $1.28 billion to public education in 2005-06 out of historic sales of $3.58 billion, the sixth year in a row the Lottery has provided more than $1 billion in supplemental funding for education. Since its inception in 1985, the Lottery has contributed more than $18 billion to California schools. MEGA Millions can be played at approximately 18,500 retail business establishments around California. The MEGA Millions draw takes place each Tuesday and Friday night at 8:00 p.m. Players may purchase tickets until 7:45 p.m. on the night of the draw.