Why Are Lottery Jackpots So Ginormous? By: Patric KigerPrev TopicNext Topic

• eddessaknight

  

  LAS VEGAS
  United States
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  November 22, 2006
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  May 10, 2023, 7:03 pm

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  The Powerball jackpot stood at $620 million and Mega Millions at $1.6 billion, for a combined possible total of over $2.2 billion, in October, 2018. How and when did lottery jackpots get so huge?

  

  The Mega Millions drawing at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on October 23rd, 2018 was, according to the lottery's website, for an estimated $1.6 billion. It could have been biggest potential payout in the history of lotteries, eclipsing the previous record $1.586 billion Powerball prize paid out to winners in California, Florida and Tennessee back in January 2016.

  As you might imagine, Mega Millions tickets sell like crazy where people can get them — in 44 states and the District of Columbia, plus the U.S. Virgin Islands — when jackpots get that huge.

  So why are lottery jackpots growing so mind-bogglingly enormous now?

  It all started when officials began tinkering with the rules in an effort to decrease the chance of winning a jackpot, so that the prizes had more potential to grow and grow. The idea is that once the jackpots get into the nine or 10 figures, first-time players and even people who might normally scoff at the notion will be tempted to buy tickets.

  Powerball was the first to change its rules in October 2015, increasing the ball pool for the main numbers and reducing it for the Powerball, which changed the odds of winning the top prize from roughly one-in-175 million to one-in-292 million.

  Then, in October 2017, Mega Millions made its own changes to make it more difficult to win. Under the old system, players picked five numbers from one to 75, and a Mega number from one to 15. The new rules required them to pick five numbers from one to 70 and a Mega number from one to 25. That boosted the odds from about one-in-259 million to one-in-303 million.

  A single person in South Carolina picked the magic Mega Millions numbers on October 23, 2018, to win the $1.537 billion jackpot. This jackpot fell just short of the 2016 all-time U.S. lottery record of $1.586 billion.

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  Eddessa_Knight w/compliments

   
• Think

  

  Marquette, MI
  United States
  Member #20,540
  August 20, 2005
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  May 14, 2023, 1:19 pm

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  It's no problem for the lotteries because most people don't pay attention and they don't realize that nobody ever wins.  It can be years and years between jackpots awarded in many areas. 

   

  I gave up playing the Mega Million for the most part unless the jackpot is $700 million cash and that's not because of the cash it's because if I am going to lose it might as well be for the big bux.   I am tired of building up the pots for someone else and was not complaining about the old matrix.

  There was nothing wrong with more frequent winners of $300-$400 million dollar jackpots but nobody ever notices how often the JP is won they just notice the size.