Officials with the New Mexico Lottery say ticket sales were up 26 percent in December.
Preliminary gross sales for last month came to about $13.7 million. That's up from $10.8 million in December 2012.
Officials say the increase was driven by the $656 million Mega Millions jackpot, which was the game's second-largest prize ever.
In the hours immediately preceding the Dec. 17 drawing, players across New Mexico were buying Mega Millions tickets at a rate of about $3,000 a minute.
New Mexico Lottery players won $4.8 million in December, bringing total prizes won so far in this fiscal year to $35.2 million.
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