Insider Buzz: Multi-state jackpots could bring holiday cheer
Just in time for the holidays, the nation's two multi-state lottery games have jackpots that have grown to thresholds that usually produce frenzied buying.
The Mega Millions game, played in eleven states, now has a jackpot of $100 million dollars for Tuesday night's drawing.
The Powerball game, played in 24 states, Washington D.C., and the Virgin Islands, is now sporting a top prize of $137 million dollars for Wednesday's drawing.
If all this seems eerily familiar, that may be because last December the same thing happened. That was the year Jack Whittaker won the largest jackpot ever awarded to a single individual: $314,900,000 in the Christmas Powerball drawing. The day before Christmas, a lucky New Yorker won a $63,000,000 Mega Millions jackpot.
Although the odds of winning the big prize are nothing short of astronomical, that doesn't stop people from plunking down a dollar a ticket for a chance at a fortune.
For Mega Millions, the chances of winning the top prize are 135 million to one. In Powerball, the odds of striking it rich are 120 million to one.
Despite the odds, one thing is a sure bet: one or more people will dventually win, and will get their best holiday gift ever.