Mega Millions $1.58 billion drawing is 3rd largest in lottery history
Tuesday night’s $1.58 billion Mega Millions drawing will be one of the largest ever after Friday’s drawing turned up no grand prize winner for the 31st consecutive time.
The odds of winning that jackpot — the third-biggest prize in U.S. lottery history — are 1 in 302.6 million. But that won’t stop dreamers from the 45 participating states from plunking down $2 per ticket and hoping six ping pong balls bounce their way at 11 p.m.
Syracuse University mathematics professor Steven Diaz told the Associated Press if a lottery contestant buys tickets for every drawing over an 80 year period — two times per week for Mega Millions and three times per week for Powerball — that person still would stand a better chance of being hit by lightning than waking up millions of dollars richer in the morning.
The record for the largest jackpot ever is $2.04 billion. That Powerball windfall went to a California man in November, who walked away with $997.6 million after opting for a lump sum payment and giving Uncle Sam his share of the loot.
Mega Millions’ largest payout was a $1.54 billion prize awarded to a fortuitous winner in South Carolina who matched all six numbers, including the single gold ball, in October 2018.
The lump sum payout for Tuesday’s winning numbers would be just over $783 million.
