Lottery players will have another shot at a huge Mega Millions jackpot and a chance to break a stretch of more than three months without a big winner of the game
Cashier Rosemary Probst sells tickets for the Mega Millions lottery at the Save 'N Time convenience store in Harahan, La., Wednesday, July 26, 2023. The Mega Millions lottery jackpot is approaching $1 billion ahead of Friday’s drawing. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The Associated Press
Lottery players will have another shot at a huge Mega Millions jackpot Friday night and a chance to break a stretch of more than three months without a big winner of the game.
The estimated $910 million prize has been building since someone last matched all six numbers and won the jackpot April 18. Since then, there have been 28 straight drawings without a jackpot winner.
The jackpot is now the eighth-largest ever in the U.S. It comes a little over a week after someone in Los Angeles won a $1.08 billion Powerball prize that ranked as the sixth-largest in U.S. history. It's still a mystery who won that prize.
Lottery jackpots grow so large because the odds of winning are so small. For Mega Millions, the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 302.6 million.
The $910 million prize would be for a sole winner choosing to be paid through an annuity with annual payments over 30 years. Jackpot winners almost always opt for a lump sum payment, which for Friday night's drawing would be an estimated $464.2 million.
Winners also would be subject to federal taxes, while many states also tax lottery winnings.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
