The Mega Millions jackpot approached half a billion dollars for Friday night’s drawing. And lottery players are checking their tickets.
The game’s top prize climbed to an estimated $476 million, with a cash option of $256 million, ahead of Friday’s drawing. No one has one the Mega Millions jackpot since January 31, causing the game’s top prize to grow larger and larger in recent months.
The chances of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are incredibly slim – with odds standing at about 1 in 302 million.
If someone beats the nearly-impossible odds and wins the jackpot on Friday, the estimated $476 million prize would be the 13th largest in Mega Millions history, according to the lottery game.
However, the $476 million would only be distributed the winner chooses the annuity option, which distributes the prize over 29 annual payments. Most lottery winners opt for the one-time, lump-sum cash payment – and the final amount taken home depends on state and federal taxes.
Here’s what you need to know.
USA TODAY Graphics:Lottery pot rises to $476 million. Mega Millions tracker shows the latest patterns
Watch:Seven things more likely to happen than winning the Powerball or Mega Millions lottery
Mega Millions winning numbers for April 14, 2023
The winning numbers for the Friday night drawing were 23, 27, 41, 48, 51 with Mega Ball 22 and Megaplier 2X.
What are my chances of winning Mega Millions?
It’s important to know that the odds of taking home a Mega Millions jackpot are extremely slim.
- The odds of winning the jackpot are 302,575,350 to 1.
- The odds to match all five white balls are 12,607,306 to 1.
“Imagine you write the letters to ‘Mega Millions’ on individual pieces of paper, mix them up, and let your cat randomly select letters. Your cat is five times more likely to correctly spell ‘Mega Millions’ than you are to win,” Matthew Kovach, an assistant professor of economics at Virginia Tech, previously told USA TODAY.
Kovach added that you are also more likely to be struck by lightning twice in your lifetime than win the lottery.
Why are lottery jackpots growing so large? Here’s what experts have to say.
How do I play Mega Millions?
To enter Mega Millions, players pick six numbers – or choose to have the lottery machine generate a random “Easy Pick” or “Quick Pick”:
- Five numbers will go from 1 to 70 (white balls)
- One number can be picked from 1 to 25 (gold Mega Ball)
If your ticket matches all six of the winning numbers from the drawing, you’ll win the jackpot. There are also smaller prizes depending on how many balls your numbers match.
The cost to play Mega Millions is $2 a ticket. You can add the Megaplier for $1, which will increase the amount of your potential prize up to five times the original prize (except for the jackpot).
Mega Millions can be played in 45 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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