The big wins just keep on coming in Arizona.
Less than two months after hosting Super Bowl LVII, the Arizona Wildcats winning the PAC-12 basketball tournament (we won’t talk about March Madness though) two more big winning lottery tickets were sold in the state on the same night, just 40 miles apart.
A $265,000 Triple Twist drawing ticket was purchased Tuesday night at the SuperPumper gas station in Chandler, while over in Scottdale at a Safeway (just a short ride away on I-10 and AZ-51), someone bought a winning $10,000 ticket on the Mega Millions drawing.
As of Friday afternoon, neither winner had stepped forward to Arizona Lottery officials to claim their prizes.
40 miles apart? It boggles the mind to think it could possibly be the same person. Did they stop at the Safeway to pick up some food, then fill up their tank at the SuperPumper? Both tickets were purchased on Tuesday.
Triple the fun
The Triple Twist lottery concept is a simple one. Tickets are $2 and sold at over 3,000 Arizona retailers. Players have the option of selecting their own six numbers (between 1-42) or letting the machine do it.
Either way, the computer supplies two more rows of numbers that are eligible for the jackpot.
Tuesday’s winner hit all six numbers: 2, 26, 33, 35, 38, and 41 to win the prize.
This wasn’t the first time an Arizona resident had hit the Triple Twist lately. A Triple Twist ticket sold at a Surprise Wal-Mart hit for $1.5 million on March 15, and another Triple Twist ticket sold on March 21 at a Phoenix grocery store was worth $225,000.
Chandler, part of Maricopa County, has a population of just under 280,000.
Mega Millions you say?
The anonymous winner who purchased their ticket at the Safeway near Pinnacle Peak and Scottsdale Roads in Scottsdale matched four out of five numbers drawn for the Mega Millions prize and the Mega Ball.
The winning numbers were 1, 37, 45, 62, and 64, with 4 being the Mega Ball.
Scottsdale, another big city in Maricopa County, has a population of 242,753, according to the most recent data.
Entering Friday’s drawing, the Mega Millions jackpot was up to a total of $414 million with an estimated cash value of $221 million.
Winners must claim their prizes within 180 days of the drawing. By then, maybe the Arizona Diamondbacks will have made the MLB Playoffs.
Photo by: Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo
