Latest: Mega Millions jackpot tops $1 billion after no one won $830 million grand prize

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The Mega Millions jackpot has already surpassed $1 billion. This Friday’s jackpot is now estimated at $1.02 billion, but lottery officials expect it to rise as more tickets are sold in the days leading up the drawing.

The gold pot’s cash value is $602.5 million.

Tuesday night’s drawing offered a prize of $830 million, but no winning tickets were sold. In terms of total value, it would rank as the nation’s fourth-largest ever lottery reward and the third-largest ever for the Mega Millions lottery.

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A “Mega Ball” of 15 was the only winning number in Tuesday night’s drawing.

A spokesman for Mega Millions, Maria Kilbane, told CBS News that the company was “happy” that the jackpot had reached its current level.

There have been no jackpot winners in this case for 29 drawings in a row. Since April 15, no one has matched the game’s six numbers.

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In 2016, a $1.58 billion Powerball jackpot was won, making it the largest lottery payout ever.

The CEO of Raising Cane claims to have purchased 50,000 Mega Millions tickets to be distributed among the company’s workers.

Thousands of people rushed to the Mega Millions website to see if they had won, resulting in “extraordinary” traffic, said Kilbane. After numerous failed efforts to access the website, it was found that no grand prize winners had been selected.

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According to Kilbane, traffic dwindled once the results of Tuesday night’s drawing were made public, although 62 million people attempted to access the site in the preceding 24 hours.

At least three large-scale jackpots have been won this year. According to Mega Millions, a $426 million prize was won in California on January 1, a $128 million prize was won in New York on March 1, and a $110 million reward was won in Minnesota on April 1.

To win the prize, your chances are 1 in 302,5 million, which is astronomically low. A smaller prize, such as $1 million for matching five regular numbers but missing the Mega Ball, is more likely to happen. Even yet, it’s still only one in every 12.6 million.

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According to the nonprofit National Safety Council, your lifetime risk of dying in a car crash is one in 101. This is something to keep in mind as you drive to the mini-mart to buy a lottery ticket.

How much money do you get after all the deductions?

You’re not going to get $830 million even if you beat the odds. To begin, this is the amount that annuity winners will get over the course of 30 annual instalments. However, most prizewinners prefer cash, and the estimated $488 million in cash on offer in this lottery is no exception.

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There are some who appreciate the idea of a long-term reward, but “in recent years almost everyone has selected the cash choice incentive,” Kilbane added.

Furthermore, after federal taxes, she predicted that the $351 million in prizes will remain in her hands. However, state taxes may also take a chunk out of the winnings. But it’s not quite as big as the original wealth!

There is also the risk that someone else will match the winning numbers, which means that even those smaller winnings must be divided in half or more, depending on the number of lucky players.

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Playing Mega Millions requires a ticket to be purchased in 45 states (including DC and Puerto Rico) as well as the US Virgin Islands. The state lotteries are in charge of organizing the game.

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