Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots add up to one billion dollars
- by Kim Reid
- in Global Media
- — Jan 6, 2018
Mega Millions was to roll Friday night for a jackpot of $450 million and the Powerball will roll Saturday at 9:59 p.m. for a grand prize of $550 million.
The Mega Millions drawing is Friday and the Powerball is Saturday night.
At stake in Friday's 11 p.m. EST (0400 GMT Saturday) Mega Millions drawing is a $450 million prize, the fourth-largest in its history with a $281 million payout if the victor selects a lump-sum payment. The odds of winning that prize from a single ticket are 1 in 292,201,338.
Saturday's Powerball jackpot is up to $570 million - the 7th biggest USA lottery prize.
Wednesday's Powerball had secondary prizes worth $29.97 million. If there's no victor for Saturday night's drawing, the next estimated jackpot for Powerball will be $725 million.This is still fifth-largest jackpot in Powerball history and the seventh-largest jackpot in US lottery history.
Both games can be played in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and with so much money on the line, many Powerball players were speculating Friday about what they might do if they win it all. To put that in perspective, 88 quadrillion is the same as 88,000 trillion or 88 million billion. At the 7-Eleven in the Archer Heights neighborhood near Midway Airport, lottery players dreamed of jetting off to Florida to escape the cold and of winning millions. "If I win you win give me the lucky one and they are going to help a lot of people", said cashier Lily Barrientos. A day earlier, no one matched all six numbers in Mega Millions drawing, lottery officials said.
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There have even been five jackpot winners who have failed to claim their prizes in the last 16 years, according to the lottery data that's available. But it's a situation that is set to happen more frequently.
The odds of only winning one of the jackpots are also high but slightly more doable than winning both - though no one has managed to win either jackpot so far this year. Six numbers were chosen from a drum just after 11 p.m. ET.
The idea was to increase the size of the top prize. At the same time, one MS lawmaker is promising something that could be more valuable than a winning ticket: an attempt at getting a lottery started in that state.
He believes this is due to the recent cold weather, and the fact people tend to typically spend more on the lottery during the holidays.
Others are more confident about their ticket.