Update: Michael Lange Strikes Lottery Gold at Tommy’s Tobacco in IB

Update 3:28 a.m. Thursday

A Mega Millions lottery ticket with five numbers from Wednesday's draw, but missing the Mega number, was sold at Tommy's Tobacco in Imperial Beach and is worth $308,573.

Michael Lange's ticket was one of 47—including nine in California—that were sold in the multi-state game with five correct numbers but missing
the Mega number.

No other information about Lange was released.

The 38 sold outside California in California are each worth $250,000, a California Lottery official announced.

California law requires most major payoffs of lottery games in the state to be paid on a pari-mutuel basis.

The numbers drawn Tuesday evening were 9, 19, 34, 44, 51 and the Mega number was 24. The estimated jackpot was $363 million, the third largest in the history of the game which began in 1996.

Only the $390 million million jackpot for the March 6, 2007, drawing and the $380 million jackpot for the Jan. 4, 2011, drawing have been larger.

The drawing was the 18th since the last time a ticket with all six numbers was sold.

The odds of matching all five numbers and the Mega number is 1 in 175,711,536, according to the Mega Millions website. The overall chance of winning a prize is 1 in 40.

The estimated jackpot for Friday's drawing will grow to $500 million, the largest in the history of the game.

The Mega Millions game is played in 41 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

- City News Service