New Yorkers flocked to New Jersey yesterday after learning there was no winner in the Big Game lottery, swelling the jackpot to a U.S. record of more than $300 million.
Bridges and tunnels to the Garden State were clogged as New Yorkers sought a chance to win the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history – a prize that could even get bigger.
The bonanza rose to $300 million after nobody picked all five winning numbers – 6, 8, 16, 30, 32 and Big Money Ball 26 – in Friday’s $230 million drawing.
Lottery officials said the jackpot might be raised after directors confer tomorrow morning.
The next drawing will be held Tuesday.
Jennifer Cummings, 27, an administrative assistant from Ridgewood, Queens, braved an hour-and-a-half trip to get to Hoboken.
“I have a better shot of being struck by lightning than actually winning,” she said, referring to the game’s odds of 1 in over 76 million.
The jaw-dropping rise in the Big Game jackpot has sparked a flare-up in the rivalry between residents of the two states.
“I don’t want New Yorkers coming over here and ruining my chances of winning the lottery,” said Hoboken resident Todd Oberstein, 26.
“You don’t see me going over there and playing their games.”
The Big Game prize has surpassed the former lottery prize record of $295.7 million, which 13 Westerville, Ohio, machinists took home in a Powerball drawing two years ago.
A Massachusetts baby sitter won a $197 million jackpot, the second-largest Big Game pot, in April 1999.
“We had anticipated the jackpot would approach $200 million, but we never thought it would go over $200 [million], much less $300 million,” said Georgia Lottery Corp. President Rebecca Paul.