WASHINGTON: The Mega Millions lottery jackpot reached a whopping $1 billion this Christmas in the United States (US).
This puts this year’s Mega Millions jackpot as the seventh largest in the game’s history.
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With cash options of up to 448.8 million USD, thousands of American citizens rushed to buy tickets in the hope of “getting rich”.
The last drawing of the Mega Millions jackpot had no one matching all six numbers, which caused the jackpot to increase from the original $862 million to its current staggering amount.
To participate in Mega Millions, players must purchase a ticket that costs just $2. They choose five numbers from a set of white balls numbered 1 to 70 and one number from a set of yellow “Mega Balls,” numbered 1 to 25.
Players also have “Quick Pick” options, where numbers are randomly generated for them.
Winning in Mega Millions can happen in many ways. The simplest win is hitting the Mega Ball, which earns you $2. If the player matches one of the five balls together with the Mega Ball, they will win $4.
There are a total of nine ways to win prizes, with amounts ranging from $2 to the jackpot.
Mega Million drawings take place twice a week in the United States, on Tuesdays and Fridays at approximately 10:00 local time.
Tickets are purchased from local markets and gas stations, and in some US states, can even be purchased online.
If someone wins this year’s jackpot, it will be the largest jackpot ever awarded. The last Mega Millions jackpot winner went home with $810 million in September this year.
Since then, more than 21.4 million winning tickets have been sold across 29 draws.
Besides Mega Millions, the Powerball lottery is also popular, with the jackpot currently estimated at $117 million for the Christmas Eve drawing.
Powerball drawings take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are about 302 million to 1.
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Despite such odds, the chance to win life-changing sums of money has many hopefuls continuing to stay away from gambling, especially during the Christmas festive season.