MARK RALSTON | AFP | Getty PicturesSooner or later, whether or not Friday night time or down the street, somebody goes to win the Mega Tens of mill
MARK RALSTON | AFP | Getty Pictures
Sooner or later, whether or not Friday night time or down the street, somebody goes to win the Mega Tens of millions jackpot.
It simply in all probability will not be you.
With the chances stacked in opposition to gamers matching all six numbers wanted to hit the mom lode, the lottery sport’s high prize has reached an estimated $970 million for Friday night time’s drawing. The money choice — which most winners select over an annuity — is $716.three million (pretax). The jackpot is also the third-largest in U.S. lottery historical past.
Friday night time’s drawing is coming just some days after one other lottery sport had an enormous amount of cash gained: A ticket bought in Maryland hit Powerball’s $731.1 million jackpot ($546.eight million money choice), which ranks because the sixth-largest prize ever.
“We all know that gamers love huge jackpots, and when the numbers are this huge, it turns into a nationwide phenomenon,” mentioned Gordon Medenica, Maryland lottery director and lead director of Mega Tens of millions.
“Everybody needs to dream about what they’d do in the event that they gained.”
The Mega Tens of millions jackpot has been climbing since mid-September, when somebody scored $120 million ($95.four million money) and the highest prize reset to $20 million. That is 37 weeks of nobody matching all six numbers in twice-weekly drawings, marking the longest stretch ever with no winner, in keeping with lottery officers.
Every Mega Tens of millions ticket has a couple of 1 in 302 million likelihood of profitable the jackpot. For Powerball, it is barely higher: 1 in 292 million.
Even for those who purchase a number of tickets, you would not transfer the needle a lot. To present your self even a 50-50 likelihood of profitable the Mega Tens of millions jackpot — i.e., the identical odds while you flip a coin as soon as — you’d have to purchase greater than 151 million completely different quantity mixtures. Even then, although, you would not have the ability to assure that you are the solely winner.
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The biggest jackpot in U.S. historical past — a $1.59 billion Powerball prize in 2016 — was cut up 3 ways.
For the Friday night time drawing, lottery officers estimate that 40% of all potential quantity mixtures will likely be performed.
After all, you possibly can win within the sport with out hitting the jackpot. The final Mega Tens of millions drawing, held Tuesday night time, produced practically 5.2 million profitable tickets, in keeping with lottery information. That included two winners of $2 million every, 11 winners of $1 million every and 139 winners who nabbed at the least $10,000.
As soon as the Mega Tens of millions jackpot is gained, it can reset to $20 million.