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Mega Millions is one of the biggest lotteries in the United States, and tickets for this lottery can be sold in 45 different states across the continent, making it a multi-state lottery. It boasts some of the biggest jackpots in the world, so it is quite popular around the globe.
Mega Millions draws take place every Tuesday and Friday at 23:00 EST in Atlanta, Georgia.
The first ever draw took place on September 6, 1996, under the name ‘Big Game’, and only 6 states could participate. The ability to choose a cash payout was not available back then - this started in January 1999. In May 2002, the lottery was renamed to ‘Mega Millions’ and more states started to join. 2013 marked another special moment for Mega Millions, as it became the first lottery to offer second-tier prizes worth up to $5 million. The first ever Mega Millions jackpot was claimed by Samuel Rice and the Rice Partnership of Catham, who enjoyed a wonderful $28 million prize.
A total of 188 jackpots were given out to 213 individual tickets and another 20 were shared by more than one ticket since 2002. 19 of Mega Millions jackpots were worth more than $300 million!
How does $1.537 billion sound? On October 23, 2018, one lucky player won that massive sum, making it the largest ever Mega Millions jackpot to be won by a single ticket-holder, who wanted to remain anonymous. The ticket was sold in South Carolina.
The next on the list would be the whopping $656 million given out on March 30, 2012. This prize was shared between 3 ticket holders - Merle and Patricia Butler from Illinois, 3 work colleagues from Maryland, and another anonymous winner from Kansas.
That’s a mega yes. All you need to do is select the subscription option before you finalise your transaction. Subscribing to the Mega Millions lottery means that you do not have to submit your numbers every time there is a Mega Millions draw because they will be submitted automatically for you! Isn’t that great?
To win the Mega Millions jackpot, you need to match all 5 numbers and one bonus number. However, there are other prizes to be won (see table below). You can check if your numbers match the winning numbers by visiting our Mega Millions results page. If you’re not sure which numbers you submitted, you can view them in your account. But don’t worry! We will still send you an email to inform you that you have won and we will make sure that the prize money is transferred to your account as soon as possible.
You can win different prizes with Mega Millions, depending on how many numbers you match. Prize amounts are set, except for the jackpot amount which is determined by the number of tickets sold.
The odds of winning in Mega Millions differ across the tiers:
| Match | Odds of Winning | Prize * |
|---|---|---|
| 5 + 1 | 1:302,575,350 | Jackpot |
| 5 | 1:12,607,306 | $1,000,000 |
| 4 + 1 | 1:931,001 | $10,000 |
| 4 | 1:38,792 | $500 |
| 3 + 1 | 1:14,547 | $200 |
| 3 | 1:606 | $10 |
| 2 + 1 | 1:693 | $10 |
| 1 + 1 | 1:89 | $4 |
| 0 + 1 | 1:37 | $2 |
* The amounts shown above have been taken from the official Mega Millions lottery prize breakdown.
The Mega Millions jackpot starts at $40 million, and it can only go higher from there! There is no maximum jackpot, so it will continue to roll over until the jackpot is won. No wonder this lottery is called Mega Millions!
If nobody wins the jackpot, there will be a rollover, which means that the jackpot will increase. Since there is no capping on the Mega Millions jackpot, this will continue to increase until someone wins the jackpot.
Prizes from tiers 1-3 will have 39.6% deducted. Taxes, duties, or levies which relate to your national tax regimes may also apply.
Tier 1 prizes (i.e. the jackpot) can be paid out in two ways: either yearly over a period of 30 years, or as a discounted lump sum at once. This is solely at our discretion.