In the UK, we do not know of any lottery that is as big as the American lotteries. At least not in terms of prices. Although non GamStop casinos offer many slots and lotteries, they can’t beat America’s lotteries. Where we ‘have to make do’ with a million or so, with peaks of up to 10 million, in America, they have prices of hundreds of millions. In fact, you can win a jackpot there that is even worth more than a billion dollars. Last week was the draw of the American Mega Millions, a lottery with absurd prizes. And it was already clear that the jackpot had gone out. But how many players had chosen the winning number combination was not yet known. Until now…
Mega Millions Lottery
The Mega Millions lottery shows considerable similarities with the Lotto of the national lottery. With the American variant, you buy a lottery ticket for $2, and you can choose 6 numbers. You do this as follows:
- You choose 5 numbers from the white balls; you can choose from the numbers 1 to 70.
- You choose 1 number from the golden balls; you can choose from the numbers 1 to 25.
These 6 numbers together make your destiny. There are several ‘regular’ prizes to be won:
So it starts with the fact that you can earn back your investment, and increases to 1 million. You can also buy a Megaplier for $1 extra. You can choose whether your money amount will be doubled 2x, 3x, 4x or 5x. The Megaplier is drawn from 15 balls before each draw. Of those 15 balls, 5 have 2x, 6 balls have 3x, the 4x has 3 balls, and 5x is only on 1 ball. Only if you have chosen the correct Megaplier will your possible prize be multiplied by this. The grand prize can reach up to $5 million.
The Jackpot
But, of course, it’s all about that jackpot. It starts at $40 million. Every time the jackpot does not hit in a draw, a minimum of $5 million will be added. I say “minimum”, because the number of players in the draw determines how high the jackpot will eventually be.
The jackpot falls regularly; the last time it fell for this week was on July 24. Then a group of players won a jackpot of $543 million. On October 23, the jackpot fell for the 5th time in 2018. The chance of winning the jackpot is 1 in 302,575,350.
There are two draws every week, on Tuesday and Friday. The jackpot is awarded when all six drawn numbers (i.e. 5 white balls and 1 golden ball) have been guessed correctly. The Megaplier does not apply to the jackpot. It is possible that several people have chosen the same numbers, and that the jackpot must therefore be divided.
If you hit the jackpot, you have two choices: choose a one-time payout, or go for 30 annual payments. If you opt for the payment in one go, you will receive less than if you opt for the annual payment. The $40 million jackpot that is filled when the jackpot is hit entitles you to a total of $40 million spread over 30 years.
The first payout is the lowest, with 5% added every year. The last payment is, therefore, considerably higher than the first. According to the lottery itself, they do this as inflation correction, but you can also see it as a form of interest (but higher than the bank currently gives you on your money). With a $100 million jackpot, the first payment is $1.5 million, and the last is around $6.2 million. Higher or lower jackpots indicate an even split.
If you opt for a lump sum payout, you will ‘only’ receive $22.8 million from this jackpot.
The Mega Hit of February 28, 2022
The jackpot has fallen on a single ticket, and there is, therefore one lucky winner. The winning ticket was sold in South Carolina. And how much has he won now?
Suppose that American opts for an annual payment for 30 years, he will receive a total of $1.537 billion. Prior to the draw, the Mega Millions lottery assumed that the jackpot would amount to $1.6 billion, but although an enormous number of tickets were sold, they were fewer than expected, and the jackpot therefore stuck at a thick $1.5 billion. The largest jackpot ever was $1.586 billion in the Powerball lottery, which fell on 3 tickets in January 2016. So this $1.537 billion is the largest prize ever won on a single lottery ticket.
So, assuming the information that for a $100 million jackpot, the first payment would be $1.5 million, the winner, in this case, would get about $22.5 million. The final payment, over 29 years, would then amount to $93 million.
If the winner opts for a payment in one go, the amount won is considerably lower. Then he/she can take home $878 million. That is indeed almost half… But still, a very nice amount, with which the person suddenly comes close to being mentioned on the Forbes Billionaires list.
How to Participate in the Mega Millions Lottery?
Just like here at the Lotto, you can buy tickets for the Mega Millions lottery in various shops and online. Since the rules differ per state in America, it is also possible that the lottery in one state is slightly different than in another place. In California, for example, the other prizes (outside the jackpot) are not fixed but depend on the number of participants. Incidentally, not all states participate; the lottery can be played in 44 states.
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