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)
CHICAGO (AP) ? Lottery ticket-holders in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland each selected the winning numbers for the world record-breaking $640 million Mega Millions jackpot, lottery officials said early Saturday.
Illinois' winning ticket was sold in the small town of Red Bud, near St. Louis, and the winner used a quick pick to select the numbers, Illinois Lottery spokesman Mike Lang said. The Maryland Lottery said it sold a winning ticket at a retail store in Baltimore County.
A winning ticket also was purchased in northeast Kansas, according to the Kansas Lottery website. A spokeswoman didn't immediately return a message Saturday morning.
Each winning ticket was expected to be worth more than $213 million before taxes, Lang said. 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 sold 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.
"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 writers Carrie Antlfinger in Milwaukee, Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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