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KENO — A total of $2,4 billion in cash prizes has been won in the largest lottery jackpot ever in Nevada, state lottery officials announced Thursday.
The state has more than a million people playing the lottery in an unprecedented record that marks the first time the state has ever won more than $1 billion in a single jackpot.
It also is the first lottery jackpots in the United States to total $2 billion, surpassing the record set in 2007 by the $2 million win at the California jackpot held by the California Lottery.
Nevada had been one of a handful of states that won more jackpots than it could win in a day since the nation began running lottery machines.
“It’s a tremendous achievement for our state,” Nevada State Treasurer Chris Wilson said.
Nevada is the largest winner of any state lottery in the nation.
It has won nearly $3 billion in jackpot prizes since 1996, according to the State Lotteries Commission.
Its jackpot was $2 and it was $1,000 and it’s been a year of incredible success, said Wilson, a Democrat.
We have the best lottery, we have the strongest lottery, and it just keeps growing, Wilson said Thursday.
In addition to winning the largest state jackpot to date, the Nevada Lottery has also won $843 million in other prizes.
Wilson said $823 million in prizes was in the form of cash, cash equivalents and checks and $700 million in cash equivalents was in other forms of payment.