Overview
- A recent non-winning drawing pushed the advertised Mega Millions annuity to an estimated $604 million and set the lump-sum cash option at about $266 million.
- This is only the 11th time the game has topped $600 million since Mega Millions began in 2002.
- The odds of winning the jackpot remain extremely low at roughly 1 in 290 million and the $1 million five-white-ball prize has odds near 1 in 12.6 million.
- Last year’s rule changes raised the ticket price to $5 and increased the post-win reset to $50 million, which help explain why jackpots now start higher and can climb bigger.
- Mega Millions is offered in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and earlier this year the game produced two large jackpots including a roughly $536 million winner.