Mega Millions
Playing Mega Millions
Lottery & Odds
Lotteries have become increasingly popular over the years. Often times, they are the only form of gambling allowed in certain states. Players choose lotteries over many other kinds of gaming because they are easy, require very low bets and offer a very large payout for the luckiest of players. The Mega Millions Lottery is available in 44 states and is formerly known as The Big Game Mega Millions. States that do not offer this lottery are; Utah, Wyoming, Mississippi, and Alabama. Mega Millions was integrated with Powerball in 2010 and has been a mega force ever since.
Play Mega Millions
Mega Millions is a very simple lottery. Players will have the ability to purchase tickets for just $1. If a player resides in a state where Megapliers are available they can choose those as well. Megapliers are $2 and offer the players to up their non-jackpot wins by 2, 3 or 4 times. All of the 44 states offer Megapliers with the one exception of California. Mega Millions tickets are most often sold at liquor stores, gas states and drug stores. There are places in other states that sell them as well. Players will purchase a ticket and wait for the big drawing.
Probability of winning:
| Matches | Prize | Approximate
probability of winning |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal balls
(pool of 56) |
Mega ball
(pool of 46) |
||
| 5 | 1 | Jackpot | 1 in 175,711,536 |
| 5 | 0 | $250,000 | 1 in 3,904,701 |
| 4 | 1 | $10,000 | 1 in 689,065 |
| 4 | 0 | $150 | 1 in 15,313 |
| 3 | 1 | $150 | 1 in 13,781 |
| 2 | 1 | $10 | 1 in 844 |
| 3 | 0 | $7 | 1 in 306 |
| 1 | 1 | $3 | 1 in 141 |
| 0 | 1 | $2 | 1 in 74.8 |
Winning Mega Millions
Winners for these drawings are called at 10:59PM on Tuesday and Friday nights Eastern Time. Players will then be able to redeem their winnings as soon as the next day. Jackpot winners will have two options as far as collecting their winnings. Players can either collect their winnings in installments over a period of 26 years or they can take a lump sum of cash. The lump sum is taxed all together as income for the winner and the lump sum is a smaller amount than the original jackpot.
Mega Millions History
$656,000,000 was the largest jackpot in Mega Millions history on March 30th 2012. This particular jackpot gave a cash option of $474,000,000. There were three jackpot winners. Each of those winners was located in Illinois, Maryland and Kansas. In 2010, the expansion of Mega Millions and Powerball took place. The first Mega Millions jackpot was called in 1997 when the game was still called; The Big Game Mega Millions.
Mega Millions and other forms of lotteries are the easiest form of gambling. Players enjoy the ability to have a large sum of money potentially in their future without having to pay more than $1. Often times, players will choose the cash prize over the installments. When there is more than one winner for the jackpot, it is then split equally between each of the winners. Mega Millions is offered in almost every state with the exception of 6 states which have more-strict gambling laws or offer a lottery choice offered by their state to its residents only.