US Mega Millions winners have yet to claim prizes
Mega Millions lottery ticket forms at a convenience store on the east side of Manhattan March 30, 2012 in New York.Three winning tickets were sold for the $640 million jackpot – in Maryland, Illinois and Kansas.
How long would it take you to claim to $218 million?
The world is still waiting to find out who in Kansas, Maryland and Illinois bought lottery tickets worth one-third of Friday night's record $656 million Mega Millions jackpot, the Associated Press said.
So many tickets were sold for the drawing that the originally oversized $640 million jackpot grew even larger by the time the winning numbers – 2,4,23,38,46 along with Mega Ball 23 – were revealed.
More from GlobalPost: Mega Millions winners in Kansas, Maryland, Illinois share jackpot
Even when winners in Kansas and Maryland claim their prizes, the world may never learn who they are.
Unlike states including Illinois, which require winners to reveal their identities, Kansas and Maryland allow lottery winners to maintain their anonymity.
Jackpot winners in Maryland and Illinois have months to claim their prizes while Kansas' lottery winner has up to a year to claim his or her prize.
Kansas officials told the Associated Press the winning ticket was purchased in the northeastern part of the state.
In Maryland, a woman working at a Baltimore area McDonald's claims to hold a winning ticket but has yet to formally claim the prize, the Baltimore Sun said.
Illinois' winning Mega Millions ticket was sold at a convenience store in Red Bud, a town of fewer than 4,000 people in the southern part of the state.
More from GlobalPost: Rwanda's economic miracle
The story you just read is accessible and free to all because thousands of listeners and readers contribute to our nonprofit newsroom. We go deep to bring you the human-centered international reporting that you know you can trust. To do this work and to do it well, we rely on the support of our listeners. If you appreciated our coverage this year, if there was a story that made you pause or a song that moved you, would you consider making a gift to sustain our work through 2024 and beyond?