$143 Million Will Go To CA Schools From Mega Millions

SACRAMENTO, CA -- Even while the Mega Millions winners may forego a career, California schools may turn out to be the biggest benefactor in the record-setting lottery jackpot with $143 million going toward the classrooms.

California school districts are up for capitalizing on almost half of the $357.9 million spent in sales generated in the Golden State, which is 1 in 44 states that play the game.

"The California Lottery's mission is to provide supplemental funding for California public schools through the responsible sale of lottery products," lottery Director Hugo Lopez said.

In its frenzy, the Mega Millions produced 7.7 million winning tickets sold in California worth prizes totaling nearly $47 million. Eight tickets purchased throughout the state matched five of the winning numbers in Tuesday's draw and made the lucky buyers $562,472 richer.

• 8 Mega Millions Tickets With 5 Numbers Sold In CA

While the odds of winning Mega Millions' grand prize of $1.537 billion were 1 in 302,575,350, your odds in Wednesday's $680 million Powerball jackpot were 1 in 292,201,338.

Still, as they say, you have to play to win.

--Image courtesy Renee Schiavone/ Patch