Mega Millions Jackpot Benefits State Education Programs

Georgia lottery officials say the recent Mega Millions jackpot of $656,000,000 will benefit some state education programs. About $25,000,000 will go toward the HOPE scholarship and the state’s Pre-Kindergarten program.

Georgia Lottery president and CEO Margaret DeFrancisco says the popularity of this year’s Mega Millions game was unprecedented.

“When we got to over $500,000,000, we were in uncharted territory,” she says, “It was a world record. There had never been a prize that large awarded anywhere.”