$355 MILLION: Mega Millions lottery jackpot second-biggest of all time

Jan 4, 2011, 12:42 pm (123 comments)

Mega Millions

By Todd Northrop

What a week for Mega Millions multi-state lottery players!

The lotteries have raised the official Mega Millions jackpot estimate for the second time in as many days to a knee-weakening $355 million for tonight's drawing.

That's a $25 million increase just from yesterday.

Likewise, the lump-sum cash option of tonight's jackpot is now $224.2 million — an increase of $15.9 million from yesterday's estimate.

And there's no telling how high the jackpot will become by the time the drawing kicks off at 11:00 pm Eastern Time.

Lotteries are typically conservative when estimating jackpots, to ensure that the actual jackpot amount is not less than the estimate.  Often the jackpot is much higher than the estimate by the time all ticket sales are accounted for.

Lottery players seeking to check the winning numbers Tuesday night are urged to use USA Mega (www.usamega.com). State lottery Web sites are normally brought to a standstill during busy periods, while USA Mega normally remains responsive.

Mega Millions drawing results will be posted immediately after the 11:00 pm drawing at USA Mega. The number of winners and new jackpot will be announced after all participating Mega Millions states have reported their data, which normally occurs within a couple of hours after the drawing.

Players are advised not to wait until the last minute to buy their lottery tickets.  Sale typically remain open until around 10:45 pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, although players should check with a lottery retailer in their state for the exact sales cutoff time. 

If the jackpot is not won on Tuesday, players will almost certainly see the world's first $400+ million lottery jackpot Friday.

The odds of winning the jackpot are approximately 1 in 176 million. The odds of winning any of the Mega Millions prizes are approximately 1 in 40.

Mega Millions features nine different prize levels, ranging from $2 all the way up to the jackpot. Players can win even if they just match one number — the Mega Ball number.

Most states also offer the Megaplier option for an extra dollar per ticket purchased. The Megaplier multiplies any non-jackpot prizes won by 2, 3, or 4 times, depending on the Megaplier number drawn that evening.

Players who purchase the Megaplier and win second prize will automatically have their prize increased by 4x to $1 million.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

Genome

i wolud buy more, but its not going to make a difference. I already spent a lot on the previous drawings contributing to this. I currently have $21 worth.

BazookaJoe

Oh my goodness, what a jackpot. I could fix that transmission in my old trk

Todd's avatarTodd

To those considering multiple ticket purchases, I have posted a very in-depth explanation of how you can calculate your odds:  https://www.lotterypost.com/news/225630/1903831

Guru101's avatarGuru101

Oh my God! What am I gonna do with all this money? Big Grin

dk1421's avatardk1421

How awesome is this?? I can't believe it keeps going up and up!

Grovel's avatarGrovel

I would probably have a heart attack if I won tonight.

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

Pennsylvania needs the first Mega Millions Jackpot for the State tonite ..........

........... I will be happy to accept the very large EFT into my bank account!

The odds are big .......... and I am small ............ but somebody's gunna win very big eventually!

Dance

joshuacloak's avatarjoshuacloak

$233,000,000 is the cash world record, we are 9 million away in cash form breaking the record

145,600,000 atfer full max fed rate of 35%, check mega for your state tax's thro

wow what am going to do with that much money, am not the sharing type, but really, wtf am i do to with it other then buy more stocks that pay dividends ,   guest i just have to buy 100m  worth of stocks Rofl, maybe spend 10m to 20m rebuying More lottery tickets and games in tennesseee

i can see the headlines, winner travels across nation playing millions per month on the diff state lottery's, why, cease he can write off the Losers thats Same Tax year agiant hes Win, LOL

aka i may of won 145m atfer tax's, but i spent 10 to 20m to do it, LOL am to greedy


and if it rolls,  Ha, the irs will be crying in joy as they steal their first 100m in pure tax's form 1 jackpot


Holy hell, with so many tickets being sold,

am having my doubts it can avoid us all and roll anymore, if it does, let the party happen!, jackpot fever is already rocketing!

f it, i get 20 more LOL

 

their be at lest 35  to maybe 40ish  5-0    2nd place winners,    and sense their only about 46 mega numbers, i hope it lands on the few mega numbers NOT yet matched with a ticket, the odds favor the players wining it by sheer force of numbers  like shotgun spread, this jackpot about out of luck

if it does not roll, someone form here better win LOL

 

p.s loved your odd post todd, glad to see math of odds detailed

hjones

What???!!!???!!!  It's been all of about 3 minutes so far... They haven't raised it more that 355, yet??

visiondude's avatarvisiondude

 ok,  NOW i am going to go out and buy more than one ticket ------>   (JK)

it only takes one...

KSplayer's avatarKSplayer

WOW 

 

all i could afford was $4 in QP and that was after finding every last bit of change i could, a win like this would be nice

 

good luck everyone

 

DREAMS DO COME TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Blue Angel

Justwinbaby

I pray that God watches over the winner. Good luck everyone!

Starr920

One of the first things I'll do if I win:

Because you know the media is gonna be all over the winner(s).

sully16's avatarsully16

Would be real nice to retire.Party

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