Pretty cool! Good luck everyone.

Todd- the cash value of the $314.9 million Powerball jackpot won on December 25, 2002 is $170,505,876 and should be on the top 25 cash value list at #18.

Come on 2nd place players Megaplier! Megaplier! Megaplier!

 could be an interesting Xmas and or fangtastic start for new year

Who would choose these numbers?  Look at that 65 coming out of nowhere lol

5, 12, 22, 41, 65, Mega Ball  13

Quick Pick, those look like Quick Pick numbers.

Trust me Nikkicute, I'm with you. I just don't get it. You HAVE to get the multiplier...especially with these astronomical odds. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING??????

Congrats to them though. I'm sure they're smiling non-the-less!! Get it together people: MULTIPIER, MULTIPLIER, MULTIPLIER!!!!

HAHHAHAHAHHAHA!!! Good one! I know right, of all the numbers in the pack, darn 65....hahaha. You know what i was thinking this morning and it might seem strange, i really like these incredibly long odds. It kinda feels like whoever wins, truly and really got lucky and in some perverse way these long odds makes it feel like an even playing field. I know, i know, crazy thinking but...

Thanks for pointing that out.

This will be the first US Lottery to climb to 1 Billion Dollars

*************$1,OOO,OOO,OOO*************

Yes Sir!!! INDEED!!!! Looking Forward to the exhilarating rush and shock i'll feel after seeing my six numbers on Dec 27!!!! Yeeeaahhhh!!! Can't wait!!

This would be a great Jackpot for Pennsylvania's 1st big win in Mega Millions!

Good luck to all LP members!

 A Party in PA!

I'll bet the Mega Millions folks are patting themselves on the back at the success of this inaugural run of the new MM matrix, and hoping for another rollover, which is still likely.

Powerball had begun to dominate the top 10 recently, and with this one run MM is turning that around and starting to take it back.

The news people usually start talking about JPs when they get over $300M, but whether due to jackpot fatigue, seasonal issues, or other distractions like the Mandela story, I haven't seen much of anything yet. This $400M JP should get the talking heads talking again, to whip sales into a frenzy.

I am with you both as well. I always get the megapleir now and this last drawing my two quick picks I had 13 as the megaball for both sets LOL so at least it paid for my next 2 tickets for Fri.

You're good Nikki. They are definitely QP #s.

Megaplier makes sense if you only play a few picks a draw, but if you get 10 picks a draw that would be a little pricey. I play to win the jackpot but if I happen to get runner up, I'm OK with that too....lol

Let's keep rolling!

I agree with you!  I don't purchase the multiplier either if I did I would have to cut down on the tickets I purchase.  I will have no regrets if I win the second place and take home a million.

Oh yeah, it's getting warm. Keep rolling baby.

Yeah, cash option is the way to go.  Wasn't aware of the new MM annuity option rules.  Not worth it.  Thought it was equal payments still.

Difference Between Cash Value and Annuity

If you win a Mega Millions jackpot, you will choose how to be paid: Cash Option or Annual Payout. Prize claim parameters vary from state to state. Contact your Mega Millions lottery for detailed information.

Annuity option: The Mega Millions annuity is paid out as one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments. Each payment is 5% bigger than the previous one. We used to pay the jackpot in equal installments, but players expressed concern that the cost of living would be increasing while their payments were not. We changed to payments that increase each year to help protect winners’ lifestyle and purchasing power.

For a typical jackpot of $50 million, the initial payment would be more than $750,000, and future annual payments would grow to almost $3.1 million.

When the jackpot is $100 million, each payment is twice as big. When the jackpot is $25 million, each payment is half as big, etc.

Cash option: A one-time, lump-sum payment that is equal to the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool.

This is going to be exciting,  hopefully there is more than one winner. Spread the Good fortune, why should there be only one winner sitting on this pot of gold like...Smaug?...*The Hobbit.

$400M!!! Hmm...Sweet Dreams!

You're welcome.

Hey Golfer- I was hoping you had won the 2nd place prize in NJ.

Three QP w/megaplier. Six bucks, all I'm spending chasing this fool's errand.

This has become a game of which can outdo/out-promote the other for media attention...MM or PB. Would rather see old MM odds and more winners with, yes, lesser jackpots.

Now that the media frenzy will start the jackpot and the number of players will increase substantially and I expect a winner in the next two draws. Most likely this next one. 

I know people who didn't even know about the 344m jackpot. Now that the local and national media will be hyping it by Friday I think the jackpot will be 450m by the drawing.

Woo Hoo $400 million

Good luck everyone!

Hoping for a singlewinnersinglewinnersinglewinner! 

From TEXAS!!!!! 

I am actually not becoming a fan of MM....I am for a larger number of people winning rather than have a huge sum go to one person...Love the idea of spreading the love...They should have increased the odds of winning the JP rather than decrease it.

$400 million would be an awesome Christmas present and start the new year in grand style.   Personally, I like to see one winner because it's just more exciting, and I hope the winner is me! 

Does anyone know how much per ticket sold goes into the jackpot? I am trying to figure out how much the jackpot needs to rise for all possible combonations to be covered.

huh what? they could be someone's ages. eg: 65 yr old woman, her 41 yr old daughter, and the 3 or 4 other numbers could be the grandchilds ages. not that out of whack.

32.577%

Hi Jill Honey, I just got back from checking my MM ticket at 7-11 (I had 5 draws on it) and when I stuck it under the scanner it said "Sorry no Winnner". I picked up another QP ticket with 5 draws and two lines for $10.00.

If I ever do win I'm coming down your way to go to DisneyWorld.

Are you still in CO or are you back in sunny Florida?

Blessings and great fortune to everyone.  This kind of money will help 4 generations removed of my family, many needed and less fortunate people, my church, and the neighborhood I grew up in.

This is going to be interesting as to how far it will climb and rise to befrore a winner. I also wonder if there will be a cap limit on it?    Anyways, I hope we all have a win of some sort, if not the big one, c'mon! 

$400M+

To cover all possible combinations, the number of tickets sold would have to be around 3.16 billion (assuming nobody buys all of them manually), so the cash jackpot would rise by ~$1.03 billion. Of course, there would be lots of duplicates. In that case there would be less than 1% chance of a single winner and 99% chance of 5 winners or more.

If they cap it it would defeat the entire point of changing the odds just to have bigger JPs. They wanted larger JPs more often to take back some of the attention from PB. They may go back to the old odds if it gets too insane but capping would be shooting themselves in the foot.

Noise-gate NOOOO!!!!!!!
One winner!
What's the point of it rolling over so many times only to have a bunch of people win. Then the JP might as well stay small and have them win every week. When we wait for this long, one person should get unbelievably lucky. It would suck to see 20 people win and get $20m each.

Long time ago i read it was 50 cents per dollar for state lottos. Not sure about pb/mm.

Indiana is overdue for a BIG WINNER Good Luck

As LottoMeto points out, duplicate tickets make it far less simple than that. Selling 1/3 of the combinations can be done without selling far more than 86.33 million tickets (259/3).

As you sell more and more combinations, the chances of selling additional duplicates goes up. Here's a simplified explanation. If it was all random, once 10% of combinations had been sold we'de expect that 10 of the next 100 tickets would duplicate combinations that had already been sold. Once 20% have been sold it becomes 20 of the next 100, and so on. If they manage to sell 90% of the combinations there will still be about 25.9 million that haven't been sold, and they'll need to sell 10 tickets to sell just one more combination. That means selling another 25.9 million tickets would only cover 2.59 million new combinations.

At the extreme, if all but 1 combination had been sold the chance of selling the last remaining combination is only 1 in 259 million for each new ticket sold. Even selling 10 billion tickets doesn't guaranee that there will be a winner, though the odds of a rollover start getting to be similar to the chances of any individual ticket winning.

With the new, horrible odds in the Mega Millions lottery, I wouldn't be surprised it rolls and rolls to a billion or more.  It makes one Hell of a Payday!!!!!

Make it RAIN!!!!! 

Spread the Good fortune

Well, isn't that precious. 

I'm renting ($1) that dream".......and hoping my long shot comes in!

        "Good luck to all".         

I think i am gonna buy 13 mega tickets since it will be on Friday the 13th and see how that goes

Betting on the lottery is ALWAYS a long shot.

Remember........THE ODDS ARE NOT IN YOUR FAVOR. 

That's why we all dream about winning it. 

The 13th might be your lucky day!

Good luck!

 # 13 might be Lucky if i was to buy my tickets in Tennessee

 Good Luck to you also

Why is the cash value so low?

Very creative Money! I love it!!

No problem Viking and good luck to you!

Jillian, you know your stuff! You're so smart and I have this vision of what you look like.

Here it is:

She's the actress on Homeland: Morena Baccarine. Am I right?

I fell off the MM wagon and bought my first ticket since the terrible change...only beause I consider

Friday the 13th to be lucky.

2 years from now, shades of Ohio,  and the MM jackpot increased again as nobody won.  It went up by $5 million and is now at 17 Trillion dollars!

YES...l am not advocating 20 winners here girlfriend,  3 max. Track with me on this: some folk have been playing decades without having won much, place an old codger in one of those slots who WILL die happy knowing that he won a piece of the action. If that octogenarian has to wait week in week out, month in month out  how is that fair to him/her knowing that some 40something  punk whose into drugs & booze gets the entire jackpot?
Like l said spread the wealth. I am thinking outside the box here.

well i just got my 13 tickets and to my surprise one Mega ball is number (13) again

what are the odds of that

There are things they could do, but with the current arms race betwen MM and PB, not likely to happen.

They want big JPs, and people respond to big JPs so they'll keep going after that. The only way to get them to change is for everyone to only buy 1 line no matter what the size of the JP is. But people can't do that, they buy more when the JP is big, and more people that never played buy when the JP is big.

Decreasing the odds allows more people to win, but it just makes the jackpot smaller, so they lose sales. There are better ways to do it, but with this two party multi-state JP system we have, no chance.

I got two draws left on this ticket and it is multiplied so I want my $5 million before this run is up.  I am only asking for the second prize not the jackpot but I will take whatever wins on my ticket at this point.  Good luck to me on friday and tuesday of next week.-weshar75

Keep Dreaming

No, that would be Old # 7.

Nuh uh. I say spread the wealth by letting them win the second tier. $1M to $5M is spreading plenty of wealth. But when a lottery rolls for weeks and weeks only for it to get split up, it seems like a big let down.

I wish you good luck. I hope Friday th 13th is lucky to you. And to the rest of us too.

Yeah, maybe someone from another state could win here.

It's easy to see no one from here can do it.

same here maybe just get a QP and then play different numbers we might win more

"...I consider Friday the 13th to be lucky."

So do I.

LOL

I plan to rub the ticket on my black cat's head for luck. lol  (Black kitties are the last to be adopted and the first to be euthanized due to crazy outdated superstitions).

Not my kitty below but cute!

Ohio Lotto Classic is up to $54.4 mil if anyone's interested...

Is that run going on 2 years now?

I've had a couple black cats, they were great.

I don't know the exact length of time. But if it's not two, it's gotta be close. I know I've been chasing that <snip> thing seems like a lifetime. I'm doing 5 bucks a draw on it, sometimes more if I get anything back from previous draw.

awwww   Never met a mean one.

Anything can be LUCKY if you believe it is  even squirrels

In light of the many tragedies, including that of Jack Whitaker, I am beginning to like the annuity option since it disciplines the lotto jackpot winner how to plan his/her monies and in any case, paying you an annuity for 30 years guarantees that you won't be eating in from the trash can or dust bin for a very long time. The cash option may give one the illusion that,  the money will always be there for ever. For instance, despite having worked very hard for my tax refund, whenever I get it, which is always in one lump sum, I always feel the urge to splurge it as if it will never run out.

My online astrologer also told me that 13 which incidentally falls on Friday will be a lucky day for me. So fingers crossed!!!

Artist77,

I lived in Grmany for three years. My section chief in the Army lived with a woman who was a WW II vet- a German Army WW II vet.

The German sold a wine called Schwartz Katz (Black cat) and each botle had a little plastic black cat on a string attached to the bottle.

Well he didn't know she was a wee bit superstitious and he brought a bottle home and she FREAKED.

Raus! Das kat nicht wilkommen in meine haus! I won't have that cat in my house!

________________________________

Re: the pounds, it's the same for dogs...they call it black dog syndrome......  :(

If you're that concerned, you can set up a trust to only provide a certain stipend.

Or buy your own annuity. Really, they're available to individuals, I promise.

With this amount of money, I think I'd lean towards the annuity as well. With a few years's practice I'm sure I'd get the hang of big money management. Besides, I just couldn't see forfiting $128 Million over the 30 years to get $151 Million today..........but that's just me

Dreamer,

I wonder how many jackpot winners that went for the annuity wind up selling it to one of those cash settlement companies.

Squirrels in my garage are generally not very lucky.  Usually they chew up everything in the garage, give me heartattack when I startle them by accident, they scare the bejeezus out of me when they do their spiderman run along the cinderblock wall, and then they finally have a heart attack when I startle them for the tenth time and they wind up dead in one of their chewed up boxes

Squirrels are quite cute when they play, and they are very pious creatures, that can often be found praying.

This one is praying for LB to hit a big Jackpot this Friday.

This one is praying for LB to hit a big Jackpot this Friday

That could be a sign for you to win the Big $400 MILLION Massive Mega Millions lottery jackpot set for Friday the 13th.

Good Luck

I Think a few have, anyone that couldn't live on 4 million a year deserve to lose their money by selling out.

If that's the reason you're leaning towards taking the annuity, then that's not the way to go as there have been many lottery winners who have taken the annuity and ended up bankrupt. They either borrow against future annuity payments or they sell their future annuity payments for pennies on the dollar to get a cash lump sum. Either way, the urge to splurge doesn't go away simply because you have less upfront. Sad but true. Regardless of the amount or of the method of getting it, it still comes down to discipline and balance.

If squirrels are lucky I'm in good shape.

I got a bunch of 'em in my freezer.

EWW GROSS!

Now that PB was won, let's hope we see this sucker swell to 1/2 Billion dollars prior to Fridays draw!!!

That would be NICE!!

No annuity for me. I'll probably be dead before 30 years is up. Cash all the way. 

I'm thinking this would be an ideal time to hit Powerball....... all the focus on MM, take a nice 'quiet' $40M.

Hi Golfer- Thanks for the comparison but I am not a brunette, just a typical blue eyed blonde.

I agree on the cash but against your future depiction of yourself. Most likely if you were to win, you would be quite content in your senior years.

Powerball was hit..... One thing about mega with the change is it is not only the odds have gotten MUCH worse but it has take 20 draws or two and a half months to run up to this level.......

My prediction.... only 6.5 winning sets of numbers per YEAR!!! This would really make people stop playing the low levels and when it's hit it will be March before another winner. 

Powerball goes up faster and has more winners. Even second place.

Let me see:

Cat = 4
Witch = 65
Squirrel = 86 (reverse rule to 68)

4, 65, 68.

God, you guys sabotaged my strategy.  I guess I'll have to spend more money.

Hmm...I don't understand.

I need to play.  I think I will buy some quick picks.  I usually like to pick my own numbers, but may do quick picks instead.

Don't forget the Megapiler!!

I had my own numbers but couldn't ignore the messages in this thread.  Chinese Charade or Cuban Charade:  https://www.lotterypost.com/charts/mystical/lacharada

I also got my own chart which is an extension of that as it is imcomplete.  Never written it.

The squirrels in my yard are praying that I'll win peanuts.

I hope their jackpot continues to roll.

I can definitely see that happening. Last time when the pot was at these levels before the $656 win, Florida didn't have MM. We'll see how it all plays out by Friday evening. Maybe $450/$475mil?? And then after no one wins, i'm thinking $550/$600mil for next tuesday. Still think it'll be a Christmas eve winner or New Year eve. But deep down, i want it to hit on the 27th. Then i'll be IN THE MONEY BABY!!!! hahhaha

ME TOO!!!!!!

If the mm rolls how much would the jackpot be on Tuesday?

I agree with you.

Since the odds of winning the Megamillion has grown, we will surely see a bilion dollar jackpot.

Well I do believe things are now in MM's favor. The PB JP has been reset and people will be getting their holiday bonuses so I expect to see larger ticket sales now. Maybe I should finally buy a ticket.

I also consider Friday the 13th a very lucky day!

My baby sister was born on Friday the 13th"

And she's one in a million.....I mean "400 million". 

good luck to all"

lol She probably created her own bad luck.  I just tried to google it and could not find a pic of the plastic cat. I bet it is a collector's item. Did not know about black dogs.

I will........lol

I buy them peanuts even when I don't win. I am feeding one that was born without a tail. Hope he survives the winter.

Aww, that's so sweet. Sounds like you two are close. Good luck to you Viking.

"Maybe I should finally buy a ticket"---

If I may ask, why haven't you before and why are you only considering doing it now?

When I went to buy my PB ticket and hot lotto ticket at lunch time in DC, there were quite a number of newbies asking  about megamillions tickets... Some of them were very "lost" but wanted to play...maybe first time ever players?  And same thing tonight when I got home and bought my DOD ticket in VA.

That was an excellent comment.

must be the money

Sales seem pretty slow. It has been almost two full days since they announced the new jackpot and they have not raised it yet. Look at a previous high jackpot for PB. I know there is a difference in the cost of the ticket and the amount that goes to prizes but still once they announced the jackpot on Wed night it they raised it multiple times. Sorry for the bad picture but it the jackpot rose from 363 mil to 590 mil.

Oh I would for sure be dying with a smile on my face. :)

I just got 2 for the Friday drawing....

Although they have not announced it yet, when it comes to life and lotto, the surprise always happens at the end.

Good luck tonight!

I think I will let it roll again,  doesn't seem like much participation.

I'm hoping it does roll, but i doubt it will be as a result of low participation. Dec 27th winner!!!

Artist77,

Here you go:

http://kimgiancaterino.squidoo.com/black-cat-wine-zeller-schwarze-katz

Scroll down to Bottles I've Collected almost half way down the page...the second bottle from the left, green bottle, you can see a red string and a plastic Schwarze Katz!

Tonight's jackpot will be raised to $425 million. Sales have exceeded projections by about 35 million tickets.

If it rolls, Tuesday's jackpot will start at $550 million with $295.3 million cash.

You heard it here first 

Thanks

You're on it Metro, good stuff!! now you need to look into that crystal ball of yours and send me the winning numbers for Dec 27th. You were spot on with the numbers so you jsut migt be on to something. Of couse you better send me those numbers privately.....hahahaha

I don't know. I just wasn't feeling it. I looked at the numbers and figured it was going to keep rolling, which it has. I'm still not really feeling it but then I remembered that I didn't win when I was feeling it so might as well take the plunge now that it's at this amount. Even with the crappy cash value it's still more than enough.

Thank again!!

Coin Toss:

Are you putting your MM tickets under the black cat bottle for luck?