Mega Millions prize of $ 970 million. What to know before buying

At some point, whether Friday night or on the road, someone will win the Mega Millions jackpot.

It probably wouldn’t be you.

With odds stacked up against players matching all six numbers needed to reach the parent point, the lottery game’s first prize reached an estimated $ 970 million for the Friday night draw. The cash option – the one picked by most annuity winners – is $ 716.3 million (before tax). The jackpot is also the third largest in American lottery history.

Friday night’s fee will come just a few days after another lottery game wins a whopping sum of money: hit a ticket bought in Maryland $ 731.1 Million Powerball Prize ($ 546.8 million cash option), which is the sixth largest prize ever.

„We know players love big jackpots, and when the numbers are big, it becomes a national phenomenon,“ said Gordon Medinica, Maryland Lottery director and principal director of Mega Millions.

„Everyone wants to dream about what they would do if they won.“

The Mega Millions Grand Prix has skyrocketed since mid-September, when someone was awarded $ 120 million ($ 95.4 million in cash) and the grand prize was reassigned to $ 20 million. That’s 37 weeks of nobody matching all six numbers on the drawings twice a week, marking the longest stretch ever without a winner, according to lottery officials.

Each Mega Millions ticket has 1 chance in 302 million to win the grand prize. As for Powerball, it’s a little better: 1 in 292 million.

Even if you buy several tickets, the needle will not move much. To give yourself a 50-50 chance to win the Mega Millions jackpot – that is, the same odds when you flip a coin once – you must purchase over 151 million different number combinations. However, you cannot guarantee that you are the only winner.

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The biggest jackpot in US history – the $ 1.59 billion Powerball prize in 2016 – has been divided in three ways.

For the Friday night draw, lottery officials estimate that 40% of all possible number combinations will be played.

Of course, you can win the game without winning the jackpot. Mega Millions‘ latest drawing, which took place Tuesday night, produced nearly 5.2 million winning tickets, according to lottery data. This included two winners with $ 2 million each, 11 winners with $ 1 million each and 139 winners who received a minimum of $ 10,000.

Once you win the Mega Millions jackpot, it will be reset to $ 20 Million.