Georgia Mega Millions players cash in smaller prizes

ATLANTA - None of them won the record-smashing jackpot, but a handful of Georgians are still quite a bit richer after Friday night's Mega Millions lottery drawing.

Georgia Lottery spokeswoman Tandi Reddick said Saturday that six Georgia players won $250,000 payouts by matching the drawing's five white balls but missing the Mega Ball number. That means they were just one number from winning a share of the $640 million grand prize.

Another 48 Georgians won $10,000 prizes for matching four of the five white balls plus the Mega Ball.

Three grand-prize winning tickets were sold in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland, giving their owners a share of the largest lottery jackpot in history.

In Georgia the big winner was the Georgia Lottery itself, which sold $28.7 million worth of tickets for Friday's drawing.