1/2
Jan. 10 (UPI) — The jackpot for Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing is an estimated $1.1 billion, making it the fourth time in a little more than four years that the grand prize has surpassed the $1 billion mark.
Nobody matched all five numbers and the Mega Ball on Friday, when the jackpot was $940 million. A lone winner in Tuesday’s drawing would take home about $568.7 million in cash.
“It’s especially nice to see the jackpot grow throughout the holidays and into the new year,” said Pat McDonald, Ohio lottery director and lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium.
“As the jackpot grows, we encourage our players to keep within their entertainment budget and enjoy this jackpot run right along with us,” McDonald said.
Tuesday’s jackpot is the third largest in the game’s history. In October 2018, the jackpot reached a record $1.5 billion. It was claimed by a player in South Carolina. On July 29, a more than $1.3 billion prize was won in Illinois.
More than 4.4 million winning tickets at lower prize levels were sold for Friday’s drawing, including five tickets that won $1 million by matching all five white balls: 3, 20, 46, 59 and 63. The Mega Ball was 13. There were two winners in New York and one in Florida, Maryland and New Jersey.
The last time the Mega Millions jackpot hit was Oct. 14. Two winning tickets sold in California and Florida to take a share of the $502 million prize.
In the 24 drawings since, more than 27 million winning tickets have been sold. Fifty-two of those tickets were worth $1 million or more, sold in 19 states.
The odds of matching all five white balls and the Mega Ball are one in 302 million. Tim Chartier, Joseph R. Morton professor of mathematics and computer science at Davidson, said the odds are equivalent to flipping heads on a coin 28 times in a row.
“The odds are made high enough to make the game compelling and get winners just enough that we have hope in the improbable and, frankly, it makes it fun,” Chartier said.
