Largest jackpot in 20 months
By Todd Northrop
The last time the multi-state Mega Millions jackpot was this big, it was busy setting the record for the largest lottery jackpot in history.
After nobody won Friday night's grand prize, the Mega Millions jackpot grew to an estimated $257 million — the largest since the record-setting $656 million jackpot set on March 30, 2012.
The lump-sum cash value stands at a staggering $139.2 million.
Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot is the accumulation of 17 consecutive drawings without a top prize winner. The current jackpot run-up started on October 4 as a $12 million grand prize — it has been two months since Mega Millions has had a jackpot winner.
Players should note that jackpot amounts are conservative estimates provided by the lotteries, and are often somewhat higher by the time the drawing occurs. Occasionally the official jackpot estimate is raised even before the drawing, due to larger-than-expected sales.
In Friday night's Mega Millions drawing, there was no jackpot winner, but 1 lucky player from Kentucky matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize.
The Kentucky winner did not purchase their ticket with the Megaplier option for an extra $1 per play. If they had, their prize would have been increased to $4 million, because the Megaplier number drawn was 4.
Also, a total of 44 tickets matched four of the first five numbers plus the Mega Ball to win a $5,000 prize. Of those tickets, 6 were sold in California, where the prize awarded this drawing is $5,744.
The Mega Millions winning numbers for Friday, November 29, 2013, were 9, 41, 43, 47, and 57, with Mega Ball number 5. The Megaplier number was 4.
Following the Friday drawing, the Mega Millions annuity jackpot estimate was raised $27 million from its previous amount of $230 million. The cash value was raised by $14.1 million, from its previous amount of $125.1 million.
Mega Millions is currently offered for sale in 43 states, plus Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 pm Eastern Time. Tickets cost $1 each.
A 44th Mega Millions state may be added in early 2014, as the state of Wyoming has approved a new state lottery with the intention of joining multi-state lottery games. (See Wyoming officially becomes 44th state with a lottery, Lottery Post, Mar. 14, 2013.)
The Mega Millions winning numbers are published at USA Mega (www.usamega.com) minutes after the drawing takes place.
I'm still waiting a few more drawings until I jump in. It's the state lottery for me until then. The jackpot is less with the state lottery but it has better odds.
With those odds, the MM gave people what they want. Bigger jackpots that nobody can win.
The fever is on!!!
Even for the non-number, occasional players , ya gottta take a chance!
The Kentucky winner did not purchase their ticket with the Megaplier option for an extra $1 per play. If they had, their prize would have been increased to $4 million, because the Megaplier number drawn was 4.
WOW i bet that they regret that now
$1.00 more people give it up
Congrats to the KY WINNER
Yesss. My prediction of a billion dollar jackpot before the end of the year is still alive lol.
Does anyone know, are the odds for MM the worst for any major lottery game out there? LOL. Not whining. Just curious. If any other lottery game in existence has similar odds to MM and what the average JP wins have been. Once every 6 months? Once per year? For instance, almost all PB JP wins occur within a 2 month period. Occasionally it goes to 3 months or so but that's a rarity. Just wondering what we should expect to see for the MM JP.
Woo Hoo!
Very nice Jackpot for Tuesday!
I'd gladly take the JP from the state's 6/49 game w/odds of 1 in a little less than 14 mil.
right now it has a cash value of 7.9 mils. even w our onerous state tax of 10.8% and fed tax @ 39% you'd still about 3.6 mils,
all in need to retire.
No it isn't when you consider its overall odds of winning something. I've played it twice buying a $5 ticket each time and won something both times. Granted, the first time I won $1 and last night I won $2 but there are games with better odds of winning the jackpot that I've spend $10 on and won nothing.
I think it's the overall odds of winning something that going to keep players interested inspite of the odds being unlikely that they will ever win the jackpot.
What would be super awesome is that someone would wake up on Christmas day, check their numbers and found out they've won...what could be better....hmmm waking up a week later on New Years day and realizing you hit the jackpot....What an awesome way to start the New Year LOL
Keep on rollin...........
I agree maringoman.
The Mega sign at the store states it a 1 in 15 chance to win. That is incorrect, it should read you have a i in 15 chance to break even. It cost a dollar per ticket, if you played one pick and had the Mega ball you would get your dollar back. No win.
If you look at the odds on the Mega website the odds are different than the advertisement in the store.
http://www.megamillions.com/how-to-play
I believe it will take a miracle if anyone wins. Yes i will play, i do believe in miracles.
Good Luck to ya.
P.S. Remember it's not a win unless you receive more than you played. If you got 10 ez picks and had the mega ball twice, you lost $8.00. Simple math. Don't fool yourself or you will bet more than you can afford. Just sayin'
Smart players always play MM with megaplier, and that's the only way to go
The ticket price is 1 dollar.
If I want to play one combination online, it is 2.50 dollars.
Somebody is making money there!
The expectancy might be under 50 cents and online play would make that 20 percent, and I am very optimistic there for the outcome!
Our local lottery doesn't charge us extra for online play. It might even be cheaper in the end!
Amen. If you play PB and/or MM, always do the mutiplier for the extra dollar. It might be the difference between just being comfortable versus being able to retire ASAP and do what you want to do 24/7.
This is what I want for Christmas! Please Santa!!!! It would be a Christmas miracle!
You've honed in on the correct issue: what is the frequency of jackpot wins with the new MM?
That's really what's at stake when they come up with a new lotto game: based on the expected customer base, what the frequency of jackpot wins will be.
Old MM did about $20M sales per draw average during non-frenzy periods. The new MM so far looks to be about the same, no major dropoff in sales with the new matrix. That comes to about $2 Billion per year, and you divide that by the odds on the JP and that gives you the rough frequency of jackpot wins. The actual interval between wins will vary widely, from days to months, but the average frequency can be expected to be consistent.
Old 1-in-175M MM did about 12 wins per year.(one per month) New 1-in-258M MM would be expected to do about 8 wins per year,(one every 1.5 months) given consistent sales.
But the goal is to have large jackpots, which boosts sales during the top end of those runs. Like last year's record $656M jackpot boosted sales by another $1 Billion on top of regular sales all by itself!
The current run will be won before the end of the year, and possibly before Christmas.
I'm lovin it, I'm glad they shut down the cheats.
Those cheat codes they have in New York didn't work out this time did they?
I've been playing the megaplier since they changed the formula and have won more than I have in the past. The 5 megaplier has drawn several times and with the smaller number of mega ball numbers, I've hit a few. I had 2+1 for $20 on last night's draw. I still won't do the PB Powerplay... just not ready to fork over $3 per play.
But, don't get me wrong, I'm still behind on spending vs winning, but am closer than before.
Still playing for that jackpot. Megamillions, Powerball, or Texas Lotto. Occasional Texas 2 Step. I'll take any one of them.
I have a feeling that oregon will have a million dollar winner before this jackpot run is done so hopefully it is me with my megaplier ticket.-weshar75
MM sales are way down; they fell dramatically since the $2 powerball, further with the new matrix.
Think of it, a 17th draw with a bump - with a weakened annuity - of less than $30 million at the $200 million level.
I agree that the annuity bump is pretty weak but when you factor in the cash value has only gone up $14 million for each of the past two draws it sums up the sentiment towards MM.
The annuity will have to top $300 million before we see any appreciable increase in sales.
lol WTF the sales for this drawing were less than the drawing at $205 million.
This scenario right now (where the MM jackpot is above Powerball) is the worst situation for the State lotteries. Not only are sales significantly weaker for comparable jackpot levels and even lower jackpot levels on Mega, but if you look at Powerball sales, they are significantly weaker, worse than levels before Florida joined the game.
So people who just play the higher jackpot game are going MM [a lower total spend], but the sentiment towards the new matrix is not positive, so there's people that are straight up not playing either games!
Not surprising. Thanksgiving and Black Friday. People were busy with other things besides buying MM tickets.
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/261214
Before the change Mega Million jackpot won at $190mil and their was 17 players
match five numbers.
I can't believe only 1 second place winner! wow!
I'm guessing they regret not picking a different Mega ball.
Does Forbes have a list that includes people who only have one billion? As residents of NY you or I would need to be the sole winner of a jackot of nearly $4 billion to get on that list. That's mathematically possible, but just a bit unlikely.
According to wikipedia the superenalotto lottery game of Italy has odds of over 600 million to 1. Their record Jackpot rolled over for eight straight months.
This is what kills me... they change the matrix, and they change the payout... if they had left the matrix alone and just changed the payout it would give them larger jackpots.. it would not have let them payout a million for five of five, but, I would have been happy with a 250k prize... truth be told I miss the old payout scale, you got more cash, almost 20% more...
Yep
don't worry you can play again next week
You are playing the lottery. You have a chance of winning someday. When are you playing the Mega Millions lottery game? LOL
$15 per drawing gives you 15 chances of winning the Mega Millions jackpot. I will not do it, because I can't afford it.
What is point of playing Mega Millions? $1 utility of $257 Millions?
$5 per drawing?
$1 Billion.
Are you playing the Mega Millions?
Spending $50 per week on the new Mega Millions matrix will increase your chances of winning the jackpot. I will not do it. I will spend $1 someday.
Are you still trying to win the Mega Millions and Powerball jackpot for Pennsylvania? Good luck.
The lottery will choose you as a lottery jackpot winner someday.
Keep spending $5 per drawing, you are getting closer to a MM jackpot win. Small wins lead to a jackpot win.
I think that you will be the jackpot winner. Are you spending $100?
You will not win the lottery, if you do not play.
Are you spending $1? You will have 1 in 259 Million chance of winning the jackpot.
How much are you spending on the Megaplier? You will increase your chances of winning by spending $50 weekly on the Megaplier. Smart lottery players do that. Do you?
Are you playing PB and MM online?
I am going to spend $257 on the Megaplier. I want to be a smart lottery player. Thanks
Spending more money on the lottery is a smart thing to do?
I agree. I am playing the Megaplier. $5 Million Winner!
Yes, your ranked as #1342.
Is Santa Claus giving you any money to play the lottery? Oh I forgot. Your chances of winning the MM jackpot are greater than meeting the imagined Santa Claus. LOL
He is $1 in 259 Million in the Mega Millions lottery game pool. LOL
I can't believe that I never beat the odds of 1 in 175 Million to win a mega millions jackpot. I will have better luck with odds of 1 in 259 Million.
Are you saying that all Mega Millions and Powerball jackpot winners are cheaters? They just played the lottery. You will win someday. Buy more lottery tickets per drawing and stop hating on lottery jackpot winners. Good Luck.
I agree. Spending more money to win the Megaplier and Powerplay option is the way to go. Let me know how you do, when you start spending $3 on Powerplay.
Keep spending $10 per drawing, and your dream of winning big will become a reality.
The lottery dream is still alive? Where else can you become a millionaire by spending $100? Saving your money?
Lets help Mega Millions sales by spending more than $1 per drawing. LOL
You do not have to play the lottery, if it makes you happy to see lottery players losing money.LOL
Lottery players have realized that saving money is better than playing the Mega Millions lottery game?LOL
People have stopped playing the lottery? I wonder why? It is good to spend money on the dream of winning a lottery jackpot someday.
You get on the Mega Millions list with odds of 1 in 259 Millions.
Lottery players are spending less money on the lottery?
The lottery did not pick the jackpot winner. I hope that the lottery choose me as a jackpot winner someday. I will pay more taxes in New York?
You can dream of winning $257 Million by spending $1 on MM. LOL
I'll start participating next week when the jackpot exceeds $300 million. Right now, I will continue to contribute a few dollars to the Salvation Army tea kettle instead of playing the lottery.
Saving money rate has to be very high in Italy. We will have the same in America, now that players are spending less money on the lottery dream.
I will not be able to help any charity. I have spent all my money on mega millions. LOL
$257 Millions Mega Millions jackpot, and I am the only one writing on this thread. Lottery insanity.
Lottery players are not too excited about winning $257 Millions. LOL
I know, right?
Peak of holiday shopping season, College football championships, and general jackpot fatigue, all combine for a MM/PB collective ... Meh!
I kind of feel the same...wake me when it's over $500M.
LOTTERY PLAYERS ARE WAITING FOR THE MEGA MILLIONS JACKPOT TO REACH $500 MILLION TO START PLAYING.
"wake me when it breaks the $400M mark"
I will...in about 2-weeks.
Well THRIFTY, you're typing a mile a minute, but you're not saying much. LOL.
In the last MM draw, there were 113,360 $1 winners in Texas. In all there were 164,329 winning tickets (not including megaplier tics) in Texas. So it looks like in Texas anyway, SOMEBODY is playing.
By contrast, in last night's PB draw, there were 23,109 winning tics in Texas, (not including power play tics).
Somebody, somewhere, sometime, is going to win the MM. I hope it's me, I always buy my one ticket, usually with megaplier.
The jackpot now is more than enough to live off comfortably for me.
Texas had 23,109 Powerball winners on the last Powerball drawing including Powerplay.
Texas 16,701 ( Powerball ) plus 6,408 ( Powerplay ) for a Total of 23,109 Winners.
http://www.powerball.com/powerball/pb_totalwinners.asp
The same here. I'll jump into MM when it gets over $500 million or so. I've been playing only my state games here in Maryland and don't miss play PB or MM.
And this may sound weird and/or greedy, but if they'd kept the odds as it was, I probably would have split the money...giving some to SA and buying a few tickets. With the odds being so ridiculous, I won't spend a dime on a ticket until the JP get much higher than it is now. CV after taxes is about $77M. I'll wait for it to roll a couple more weeks.
Lottery games like Mega Millions and Powerball are worth playing when the jackpot is worth more than $100 Millions. The odds of winning are too high to play for less.
You will have the only winning combination out of 259 Millions. Good Luck.
While I would be ecstatic with any amount 4 figures or more, with all the headaches that come with winning the JP, I'd rather be stinking rich than just comfortable. If I have to deal with vultures, parasites, death threats and greed-induced lawsuits, I better be much more than just financially comfortable. lol.
Turning $1 into $500 Millions?LOL
You are not hunting for the Mega Millions jackpot with $1 Quick Pick Ticket yet?
Lottery players will spend $1 Billion dollars to win a $500 Million Mega Millions jackpot. 259 Million combinations will be sold for a $500M jackpot drawing. We will have a jackpot winner before it gets to $1 Billion.
Actually, even if 1 billion tickets are sold for a single drawing, only about 253,450,873 of the 258,890,850 combinations would be sold (assuming tickets are sold randomly....not all combos mechanically purchased lol). The rest would be duplicates.
I just laugh at the people who take part in these threads and say they haven't bought a ticket. Who are you kidding.
Sorry Thrifty, I looked at the stats on TLC's website wrong. Good eye.
you're dead on. there are only going to be 104 drawings a year for each of these unhittable jackpots. one would think if you play them you should cover "every" one with at least 1 ticket no matter what's in there. if it increases to level you want buy more. i believe some of these participants actually don't buy unless it's at an astronominal amount. if any of them actually won only 1 million they would be ecstatic beyond belief and would avoid the harrassment that goes with a big win. but they don't and they won't unless it's 200 million or more and don't realize they only have so many chances left before the grim reaper comes.
Well said Farber!
All I ever wanted, is to win the MM 5+0 2nd prize every draw, or at least once every month. I will gladly let you all win the jackpots with my blessings. I always buy my tickets with the megaplier and that gives me $2-5M per draw, for at least once a month. That way, I can still live a very sweet life, while still flying under the radar. Whether the jackpot is $12M or $1 billy, actually means not that much to me. If I win it, and that's a BIG IF, that's ok too. Who needs the pomp and pageantry? Not me, but I can deal with it, if it happens. I have already planned out everything, while still keeping my fingers crossed for any unforseen eventuality. Just give me the 5+0 with the megaplier, at least once a month, and I will be very, very happy.
Just like jackpot winners who feed us the "rooster"and bull story, that they have never played the lottery before. I always see people who buy multiple tickets, but insist on the clerk giving them single tickets, instead of the usual 5 or 10 lines per ticket. I guess if they win, they whip out a single ticket and declare to the world," This is the first ticket I've ever bought in my life".
Guess it's because I've been playing a little longer than some. It has been 300 mill 400 mil and I've not bought a ticket.
Too many sorry not a winner messages can turned me into an occasional lottery player.
I am a clerk at a lotto retailer. I've asked about the single ticket for 23 lines customers. They don't understand how the RNG works and think this is the secret to hitting the jackpot.
I've tried explaining certain things to them but they don't believe me.
I respect the members here for the knowledge the share, possess and seek. But even here it's funny when some members talk about clerks having an advantage and shouldn't play. I think thats hilarious, if it was so true, we would just spend all our money on scratchers. Just a general rant, not directed at you.
I haven't won enough to merit more than an occasional ticket. I've won more on scratchers discarded in the trash than anything I've bought.
So, you're an advocate for clerks playing Scratch games? This is no laughing matter.
While you yourself may not be doing it or employing these techniques, a clerk can have an unfair advantage over regular customers playing scratch games:
- a clerk can watch the players, looking for a long losing streaks, and then pounce in like a "hawk" to look for winners.
- a clerk can monitor the redemptions on the pack, knowing the amount of low-tier prizes that have been paid out and the likelihood of mid-tier prizes still being available.(if knowing the minimum pack value)
- conversely, a clerk can also see when a pack has paid out mid-tier prizes already, and know to avoid that pack with just low-tier and losers remaining.
It's not a huge advantage. Just a small edge to increase their return. It doesn't mean players can't win in those situations, the high-tier prizes could be anywhere in the pack. And the clerk playing is not going to automagically make the large/top prizes migrate to the store, etc. But it's still an advantage that the clerk has that the player/customer does not.
It's largely a question of ethics. Sure, everyone playing is competing for the same prizes on the roll and has a chance to win. But as the clerk stands there and sells you the tickets with a smile and wishes you "good luck" ... should they also be competing against you? As they smile and sell you tickets from a roll that they know has already paid out big prizes and is left with duds?
No, they should not be playing against their customers on scratch games.(lotto games are different and are OK to play) Not on the clock, and probably not at the store. Play at another store, that's fine. No law against that.
Kind of like bar servers not imbibing at the place where they serve. It should be a store policy.
People say this at least twice a week when these "stories" are made.
At the current roll over rate more like one every two months.
On a unrelated note, these boards are in dire need of an upgrade to at least allow multi-quoting so you don't have to make multiple posts to respond to whatever you want to respond.
$257 MILLION Mega Millions jackpot
Someone needs to win this for Christmas
You made a very troubling admission in your last sentence. You said, "I've won more on scratchers discarded in the trash than anything I've bought".
We on LP, always denegrade clerks that try to rip off customers. We sincerely hope that you don't participate in such shenanigans, just saying. It is a crime.
Make sure that you spend more than $2 on the Megaplier, more than $3 on the Powerplay.You have to maximize your chances in order to beat the lottery and make consistent small profits.
I keep my lottery playing very simple, but there is always a method to the madness.LOL
We always have duplicates in random lottery games. It is the reason that lottery games have multiple prize winners. Do you realize that more than 50% of the total combinations would be sold for a $500 Million jackpot? I have to agree with your post though.