Massachusetts State Lottery spokesman Christian Teja joined Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” program yesterday to talk about Mavis Wanczyk of Chicopee, who became the biggest winner in Powerball history in August.
Q: When she won the $758.7 million, she basically said she wanted to be back in bed. She didn’t know how to deal with this whole thing. It’s craziness, and I hear her. This is such a huge thing for the Massachusetts Lottery, right?
A: Absolutely. To say it was an exciting moment is an understatement. It was beyond exciting. It all happened so quickly … The numbers were drawn at 11 p.m. the night before, by 2 a.m. the next day, we had the winner.
What a great day for Massachusetts, all around. First we have a winner, who enjoyed a life- changing experience for her and her family, then you had the retailers statewide who benefited from selling all of these Powerball tickets, and you had the retailers who sold the high-tier tickets getting some nice bonuses. It was so great to hear what they’ve done out in the Chicopee area, the Pride Station and Store, they got $50,000 for selling that winning ticket and they committed it all to charity.
Q: Tell us about the changes coming to Mega Millions?
A: Effective Oct. 28, the starting jackpot will now be $40 million. It had been $15 million. And the price of the ticket is going to go up. It has been $1. It will now be $2 … The odds of winning the jackpot does become a little longer … but the changes are designed to make the jackpots grow a little faster and to get to those higher levels that we’ve seen with Powerball.
Q: What can you tell us about the holiday tickets this year?
A: They’re going to be on sale starting next Tuesday, Oct. 24.
We have a family of tickets this year called Holiday Bonus. There’s $1, $2, $5 and $10 versions of those games. The $10 game you could win up to a $2.5 million grand prize, on the $1 ticket you can win up to $10,000.
We also have a game called the Nutcracker Cashword, that’s $2 … And really exciting, this year for the first time, with our holiday tickets we’re offering a bonus chance.
So if you do have any non-winning tickets you can enter them online or through our Mass Lottery Second Chance mobile app and then you’ll be entered in a bonus drawing for a chance to win cash prizes of up to $10,000.
