Lottery dreamers across the United States are eagerly awaiting the Mega Millions jackpot drawing on Friday, following the recent sale of a Powerball ticket worth over $1 billion. The new Mega Millions jackpot, estimated at $720 million, is now the game’s fifth highest jackpot. However, it has not yet reached the top 10 highest lottery jackpots in U.S. history.
If a lucky player manages to match all five numbers and the gold Mega Ball, they will have the choice of receiving the prize in yearly installments over 29 years or a lump sum payment of $369.6 million before taxes. The last time a Mega Millions player won the top prize was on April 18, and the jackpot will continue to grow until a winner emerges.
The Powerball lottery had been attracting most of the attention until this week when a ticket was finally drawn. The ticket, sold at a small neighborhood store in downtown Los Angeles, is worth an estimated $1.08 billion, making it the sixth largest jackpot in U.S. history and the third largest in Powerball’s history. The winning numbers for Wednesday night’s drawing were 7, 10, 11, 13, 24 for the white balls, and 24 for the red Powerball.
Many people wonder why lottery jackpots have been reaching such astronomical amounts in recent years. The answer lies in the design of the games themselves. The odds of winning the top prize in both Powerball and Mega Millions were made more challenging in order to create these larger jackpots. In 2015, Powerball increased the odds of winning from 1 in 175.2 million to 1 in 292.2 million, and two years later, Mega Millions followed suit by increasing the odds from 1 in 258.9 million to 1 in 302.6 million. As a result, the largest lottery jackpots in the U.S. have been won since these changes were implemented.
The biggest jackpots ever won in America include a staggering $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot on November 8, 2022, with the winning ticket sold in California. The next largest jackpot was also a Powerball prize worth $1.586 billion on January 13, 2016, but it was split among three winners in California, Florida, and Tennessee. The third, fourth, and fifth largest jackpots were all Mega Millions prizes, with South Carolina claiming a single-winning ticket worth $1.537 billion on October 23, 2018, Maine winning $1.35 billion on January 13 of this year, and Illinois winning $1.337 billion on July 29, 2022.
Although lottery jackpots may be thrilling for some, experts have long expressed concerns about the regressive nature of lotteries, as they disproportionately affect low-income individuals. These individuals, who can least afford to lose money, often spend the most on tickets. Lia Nower, a professor and the director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University, noted that many ticket buyers do not view the lottery as gambling and instead see it as a harmless form of entertainment. However, there is a lack of responsible gambling programs for lottery tickets, such as self-exclusion or betting limits, which are commonly found in online casinos or sports wagering platforms.
Mega Millions is available for play in 45 states, along with Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As the excitement builds for Friday’s drawing, millions of Americans will be hoping to turn their dreams into reality by snagging the Mega Millions jackpot.