(RNN) – Someone could win $1 billion Friday night. That’s billion with a B.
It’s the highest Mega Millions jackpot ever, and the second-highest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.
The next drawing is at 11 p.m. ET Friday. If someone wins, the jackpot resets to $40 million.
No one has hit the jackpot since July 24, and folks are excited about the possible record payout.
People are rushing to buy tickets, although the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 302.6 million, which means you’re more likely to get struck by lightning.
To further illustrate just how bad the odds are, WOIO reports that Aaron Montgomery, assistant professor of mathematics at Baldwin Wallace University, has found you’d have a better chance of:
- Being in a room with nine strangers and discovering that you were all born on the same day of the week
- Having President Donald Trump follow your Twitter account if he chooses one account randomly from all accounts worldwide
But hey, who knows?
(RNN) – Someone could win $970 million Friday night.
It’s the highest Mega Millions jackpot ever, and the second-highest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.
The next drawing is at 11 p.m. ET Friday. If someone wins, the jackpot resets to $40 million.
No one has hit the jackpot since July 24, and folks are excited about the possible record payout.
People are rushing to buy tickets, although the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 302.6 million, which means you’re more likely to get struck by lightning.
To further illustrate just how bad the odds are, WOIO reports that Aaron Montgomery, assistant professor of mathematics at Baldwin Wallace University, has found you’d have a better chance of:
- Being in a room with nine strangers and discovering that you were all born on the same day of the week
- Having President Donald Trump follow your Twitter account if he chooses one account randomly from all accounts worldwide
But hey, who knows?
Mega Millions is available in 44 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Alaska and Hawaii don’t participate. Neither do Nevada, Utah, Alabama or Mississippi, but many of their residents will drive to the next state over when jackpots get this big.
Jackpot winners have a choice to make: cash or annuity. Those who take the cash will receive a one-time lump-sum equal to all the cash in the prize pool.
The cash option for Friday night’s drawing is estimated at $548 million.
Those who opt for the annuity will get an immediate payment and then yearly payments for 29 years.
Either way, it’s a lot of money.
The possible winnings for Powerball are huge, too – an estimated $430 million.
No one won matched the winning Powerball numbers Wednesday night, so the jackpot jumped. The next drawing is Saturday night.
The Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots combined total $1.4 billion.
The largest Powerball jackpot ever was $1.586 billion in January 2016. It was shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.
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