Mega Millions Jackpot Soars To An Estimated $1 Billion
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — One of the biggest lottery jackpots in U.S. history is up for grabs tonight.
Friday night's Mega Millions jackpot has grown to an estimated $1 billion, making it the third-largest U.S. lottery prize of all time. No tickets matching all six numbers were sold for 36 consecutive drawings, the game's longest streak without a jackpot winner in its history.
However, a ticket sold in Artesia matched five numbers in Tuesday night's Mega Millions drawing. That ticket is worth $1.4 million.
Just two other jackpots have been bigger – on Jan. 13, 2016, when the Powerball jackpot was worth $1.586 billion, and the Mega Millions jackpot worth $1.537 billion on Oct. 23, 2018.
The odds of matching all five numbers and the Mega number are 1 in 302,575,350, according to the California Lottery. A person's chance of winning a prize is just 1 in 24.
And one USC mathematics professor cautions that buying tickets at a so-called "lucky retailer" doesn't increase anyone's chance of winning.
"The chance that a given place will sell a winning lottery ticket is just related to how many tickets they sell," Professor Ken Alexander said.
Players have until 7:45 p.m. to buy a ticket before the 8 p.m. drawing.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
