Mega Millions lottery soars to $1.13 billion jackpot on Tuesday

SAN JOSE, CA - Lotto fever is spreading across the country as two lottery jackpots continue to grow. Tonight, the Mega Millions drawing stood at over $1.13 billion. Tuesday’s winning numbers are: 7, 11, 22, 29, 38 and Mega Ball 4. 

Powerball is also at an estimated $865 million for Wednesday night’s drawing.

The 7-11 store on Kooser Road is one of the luckiest stores in San Jose because they’ve had some million-dollar tickets bought there. KTVU talked to lottery players as they bought their tickets on Tuesday. 

"Work group and for myself. You got to be in it to win it, so here we are," said Amber, of San Jose. 

With nearly $2 billion on the line over the next two days, people are buying up as many Mega Millions and Powerball tickets as they can. Lottery players we spoke to say they’ll use whatever strategy they can to pick the winning numbers.  

"My daughter’s birthday, my husband’s birthday, my birthday, my brother’s birthday, and my son-in-law’s birthday. I hope I’m lucky," said Ximbo Shumway, of San Jose.   

"Single quick picks all the time, different stores, try to spread the odds out," said Emanuel, of San Jose.

This is the first time that both Mega Millions and Powerball had giant jackpots in the same week. Tuesday night’s Mega Millions jackpot of $1.13 billion is the 8th largest prize in the game’s history, and no one has won the prize since December 8th.

One lottery player says winning the jackpot would really help lift his spirits after coping with a family member's illness.  

"We’ve had a rough go of it in the past year. My sister-in-law has been dealing with colorectal cancer, so I figure there should be some good coming. Hopefully, we’ll share the love with everybody," said Michael Tovish, of San Jose.  

Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing will be an estimated $865 million. No one has won the prize since New Year’s Day, but not everyone is convinced they should be playing for the largest jackpots. One man says he decided not to play for the huge prizes and played California’s Fantasy Five game instead with a $173,000 prize.

"I figured everyone was coming in buying the 1.1 billion, so the odds are a lot tougher there. Other states, but a single state here, but a win’s a win," said Tyson Jasso, of San Jose.

With so much money on the line, Emanuel says he has a few ideas about how he’d spend all that cash.

"I’ll probably buy a bunch of houses in a cul-de-sac, put up a statue of myself and make sure that everybody touches it as they come in and live there." 

He was joking, of course, but the odds of winning tonight's Mega Millions or Powerball tomorrow are about 300 million to 1. 

If your numbers are called in the Mega Millions game, the lump sum payout will be about $537.5 million. 

So, everyone with lottery tickets, keep your fingers crossed and hope your numbers are called. There’s another big drawing on Wednesday night.