DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Strong weekend Mega Millions ticketsales easily could push Tuesday’s
jackpot above last year’s record $656million prize, a lottery official said Sunday.No ticket matchedthe six
number needed to win Friday’s $425 million prize. It was raisedSaturday to $550 million for Tuesday’s
drawing — the fourth largest inU.S. history.Paula Otto, executive director of the VirginiaLottery and Mega
Millions’ lead director, told the Associated Press thatsales were up by as much as 20 percent in states that
reported theirweekend numbers. Sales were expected to spike on Tuesday, the day of thedrawing."I think
we’ll be very close to the record, and maybeeven surpass it," Otto said. "The challenging part in
predicting is thatso many of the sales happening on the day of the drawing."But lotto players are
procrastinators. They tend to buy on the day of the draw."Asof Friday, players had bought enough
tickets to cover roughly half ofthe 259 million possible number combinations, Otto said.Copyright 2013 The
Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
orredistributed.DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Strong weekend Mega Millions ticketsales easily could push Tuesday’s
jackpot above last year’s record $656million prize, a lottery official said Sunday.No ticket matchedthe six
number needed to win Friday’s $425 million prize. It was raisedSaturday to $550 million for Tuesday’s
drawing — the fourth largest inU.S. history.Paula Otto, executive director of the VirginiaLottery and Mega
Millions’ lead director, told the Associated Press thatsales were up by as much as 20 percent in states that
reported theirweekend numbers. Sales were expected to spike on Tuesday, the day of thedrawing."I think
we’ll be very close to the record, and maybeeven surpass it," Otto said. "The challenging part in
predicting is thatso many of the sales happening on the day of the drawing."But lotto players are
procrastinators. They tend to buy on the day of the draw."Asof Friday, players had bought enough
tickets to cover roughly half ofthe 259 million possible number combinations, Otto said.Copyright 2013 The
Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
orredistributed.