One hundred forty-two people (not 100 as previously noted) had lottery tickets that were one number away from the winning combination. So a little crying over Lady Luck is to be expected, right?
Queens restaurant owner Diancai Zhou told the Post, “Arrrrrrghh! That could have been $640 million if only I had that one number!” He, his employees at Fuji, and friends had pooled together for tickets, so now they will split $250,000. Another one of the group's almost winners, Ivy Song, said, "I feel lucky and unfortunate at the same time... Why couldn’t I get that number? I’d travel the world and I wouldn’t have to think about money ever again. But this money will help me a lot. I’m going to splurge on my children."
There were 16 other second-place winners in NY State. One deli owner in Borough Park who sold one of them told the Daily News, "This is great news. We’re a lucky place now and this will be good for business."
For everyone else whose tickets are just taking up space in your wallet or purse, the Post has this handy rundown of what tickets are worth:
* Five numbers, not Mega Ball, but multiplier: 3 prizes of $1 million
* Five numbers, but not the Mega Ball: 1581 prizes of $250,000
* Four numbers and the Mega Ball: 897 prizes of $10,000
* Four numbers but not the Mega Ball: 40,423 prizes of $150
* Three numbers and the Mega Ball: 46,887 prizes of $150
* Two numbers and the Mega Ball: 780,589 prizes of $10
* Three numbers but not the Mega Ball: 2,086,571 prizes of $7
* One number and the Mega Ball: 4,669,851 prizes of $3
* Just the Mega Ball: 8,727,236 prizes of $2
The three winning tickets were sold in Kansas, Maryland and Illinois. The winners have not come forward yet, probably because they are consulting lawyers (it's serious business, winning millions and millions).
