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Chicago old man wins 265 mln dollars lottery prize

Xinhua, February 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

A 70-year-old man of suburb of Chicago won 265 million U.S. dollars, the jackpot of Mega Millions in the Jan. 16 drawing. The Illinois Lottery said here Tuesday that this is the largest prize in the state's lottery history.

According to a spokeswoman of Illinois Lottery, the lucky man, Jesus Davila Jr., won the top prize by a 5-U.S.-dollar Quick Pick ticket. A press release by the Mega Millions company showed Davila, a retired driver, was at home watching TV in Naperville, west suburb of Chicago on Jan. 16. After comparing the numbers to his ticket, he realized the first five numbers matched and thought he had won 1 million dollars. But when he showed his son the ticket, his son realized that all six numbers matched and he had won the jackpot.

Davila came to the U.S. at the age of 6 from Puerto Rico. He has four children and four grandchildren, not married, according to the press release.

At the press conference, Davila said that he wanted to buy a big house and a lawnmower.

In 2012, a couple from downstate Red Bud, Randolph County, claimed 218 million dollars, the second largest prize in Illinois lottery history, according to local media.

Mega Millions is America's biggest jackpot game with jackpots starting at 15 million dollars. One can play Mega Millions in 44 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Mega Millions tickets cost 1 dollar per play and the drawings are held every Tuesday and Friday.

The biggest jackpots Mega Millions produced is 656 million dollars in 2012.

According to official statistics, in 2014, sales of state lotteries in the United States reached approximately 70.15 billion U.S. dollars, up from 68.88 billion dollars the previous year. Endite