South Carolina Education Lottery representatives Stephanie Summers Hemminghaus and Julie Huffman brought their head-turning lottery truck to Gaffney last week to talk about the new game coming to South Carolina. The Mega Millions lottery, which holds the record for the biggest jackpot in U.S. history, could be sold here beginning Jan. 31, 2010. South Carolina Education Lottery players who want an extra crack at mega jackpots will get their chance early in 2010 when South Carolina becomes the newest state to offer the Mega Millions game.

Mega Millions numbers are drawn on Tuesdays and Fridays while Powerball numbers are drawn on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Both the Powerball and Mega Millions games have reached eye-popping numbers in recent years. Mega Millions holds the record for the largest U.S. Jackpot of $390 million, set in 2007. Powerball’s no slouch, however, as its biggest jackpot was $365 million, set in 2006.

By adding Mega Millions to its long list of lottery products, including scratchoff instant tickets and twice-a-day drawings, the South Carolina Education Lottery Commission hopes to draw in more money for its educational programs.

Stephanie Hemminghaus, product relations coordinator for the Education Lottery, and Julie Huffman, beneficiary communications coordinator for the lottery, said last week that adding the Mega Millions lottery in South Carolina is expected to raise between $15 million and $22 million more for educational programs.

“Our goal is to increase the amount of money transferred to education,” Huffman said. “This looks to be a great way to do that.”

Since the lottery’s inception in 2002, more than $2.2 billion in lottery proceeds have been put into education programs such as scholarships, needs-based grants and lottery tuition assistance. More than 700,000 scholarships and grants have been awarded since the lottery’s founding.

It’s expected that Mega Millions tickets can be sold in South Carolina as early as Jan. 31, 2010. The 3,500 retailers and stores that sell South Carolina Education Lottery tickets won’t have to make any major adjustments as the computer technology to sell the tickets is already in place.

About 35 cents of every dollar spent on Mega Millions tickets remains with the state that sells the tickets.

South Carolina is one of 31 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands belonging to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which operates Powerball.

Mega Millions also is a multi-state lottery currently offered in 12 states.