All the information you need on Friday’s Mega Millions winning numbers – and the prizes up for grabs even if you don’t hit the jackpot.
Your odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 302,575,350 to 1, so the deck is definitely stacked against you. But if you choose to play, what will you get for the more modest prizes?
Friday’s winning white balls were 1, 8, 11, 12 and 57. The gold Mega Ball was 7.
Yes! An estimated jackpot of $980 million ($452.2 million cash option) was up for grabs in Friday’s drawing – and one winning ticket scooped the grand prize. Mega Millions organizers say the ticket was bought in Georgia.
Tonight’s #MegaMillions jackpot has been hit!
A lucky ticket sold in Georgia has won the $980 Million jackpot!
Congrats to the winner! 🎉#lotto #lottery pic.twitter.com/5cSOtOFTVj
The next drawing will take place on Tuesday, November 18. The new jackpot will be an estimated $50 million, with a $23.2 million cash option.
When you play Mega Millions, you need to choose six numbers from two separate pools for the drawing. Players choose five numbers between 1 and 70 for the white balls and one number for a gold ball from 1 to 25.
There are a total of nine ways to win a prize in Mega Millions, ranging from recovering your initial $5 buy-in to the jackpot with the Megaplier included.
All Mega Millions states set the 2nd through 9th prizes at pre-determined amounts, except California, where all prize payouts are based on sales and the number of winners. Starting from the smallest, and thus the highest odds of winning.
If your gold Mega Ball matches the one that is drawn you will breakeven, getting your $2 ticket purchase back. The odds of your ticket matching only the gold Mega Ball is 1 in 37.
If you choose one correct number plus the Mega Ball you’ll bring home $4. The odds more than double to a 1 in 89 chance.
If your ticket matches two numbers and the Mega Ball you’ll get $20 but the odds to get there begin to skyrocket to 1 in 693.
The odds of getting three correct numbers are a bit better at 606 to 1, but you still take home $20.
If you purchase a ticket that matches three numbers and the Mega Ball you’ll finally get back enough money to treat yourself or someone else to something special. The odds to get that $400 in your pocket jump to 1 in 14,547.
The odds of buying a ticket containing four numbers without the Mega Ball more than double again to 38,792 to 1 chance, but so too does the prize at $1,000.
Now the prize really climbs as do the odds for hitting four numbers plus the Mega Ball. If you can overcome the roughly 931,001 to 1 odds you’ll be able to take that holiday you’ve been putting off with the $20,000 prize. You’re twice as lucky, or better said unlucky, to be hit by lightning at this point (500,000 to 1).
To get the $2 million prize you’ll need to match the numbers on the five white balls drawn without the Mega Ball and beat the 12,607,306 to 1 odds.
Everyone who plays the lottery, and many who don’t, think about “the what would I do with all that money?”. The vast majority who do play will keep dreaming with the odds stacked seriously against them with just 302,575,350 to 1 shot of buying a ticket that matches all five numbers and the Mega Ball.
Just about anything that could happen is more likely than winning the jackpot. However if you were to be so lucky, you would get two choices: either receive the prize as an annuity – a series of payments over the years – or as an up-front lump sum.
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 to keep up with inflation.
For a jackpot of $100 million, the initial payment would be about $1.5 million, and future annual payments would grow to about $6.2 million.
Although less than the prize announced for the overall pot, the one-time, lump-sum payment is equal to all the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool.
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