Mega Millions Lottery Hits Record Heights With $1.6 Billion Jackpot
Published October 21, 2018 by Sol FH
After a long string of massive rollovers, the Tuesday, Oct. 23rd draw is worth over $1.6 billion.
Just think about what your day would be like if you woke up on Wednesday morning to discover that you've got a winning lottery ticket worth $1.6 billion. Yes, that is billion with a 'B'. The Mega Millions Lottery has skyrocketed to this record-breaking amount after rolling over on an already impressive $1 billion jackpot, following a winless draw on Friday night (Oct.19).
Friday nights' numbers were 15, 23, 53, 65, 70 and Mega Ball 7, but there was no winning ticket. The next draw will be at 23:00 ET on Tuesday night and lottery ticket sales are also going strong, especially at online lottery ticket retailers like The Lotter. In fact, online sales have become one of the most popular methods of purchasing lottery tickets and the coming Mega Millions draw may even break some online sales records too.
“Mega Millions has already entered historic territory, but it’s truly astounding to think that now the jackpot has reached an all-time world record,” related Gordon Medenica, of the Mega Millions Group. The chances of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350, and for Friday's draw, Medenica said that around 57 percent of all possible number combinations were purchased. It was shocking that there was no winner, but it leaves the door open for the new heavyweight lottery champion at $1.6 billion!
Lottery Dreams
This is the kind of lottery draw that brings out those who do not usually buy lottery tickets, which means that the jackpot will almost certainly rise even more before Tuesday's draw. The cash option on a $1.6 billion pot is around $905 million, but, choosing to take the 30-year payment option would be the best option. If you do the math, it would be like winning $53.3 million every single year for 30 years.
There are many reasons that the Mega Millions jackpots have surged in size in the last few months, but the main one is that last October, Mega Millions officials raised the price of tickets to $2. At theLotter, the same $2 tickets are still available for the upcoming draw but the cut-off time is coming soon.
