Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot suggests a $1.15 billion ticket

CNN
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What better way to start the new year than with a 10-figure winning lottery ticket?

Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot is 1.15 billion dollarsor $516.1 million in cash. The prize has risen sharply since the last draw on Christmas Eve, with no winner taking the estimated £1 billion jackpot.

If won on Friday, the prize would be fifth biggest jackpot in the history of the game.

“We know many people are likely to receive tickets for Friday’s draw as a Christmas present, and what a gift it would prove to be if you end up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” said Joshua Johnston, Chief Executive Officer of Mega. Millions consortium in one press release.

While Friday presents an opportunity for another 2024 Mega Millions winner, no one has hit the jackpot too much 100 days.

According to the company, this year has had one of the fewest jackpot wins in a single year since the game started in 2002. Only three people have won this year.

In 2023, ten jackpots were awarded. There have been 217 jackpots won with 244 individual tickets since the game started.

The odds of winning any prize in the lottery game are 1 in 24, according to the Mega Millions website, but the odds of winning a jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.

The largest amount ever won was last year, when a single Florida ticket claimed the $1.602 billion prize.

Researchers have raised concerns that not only are the chances of winning the Mega Millions slim, but that state lotteries are also siphoning off funds from poor communities under the guise of a chance to acquire wealth.

ONE study by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found that in 2022, stores that sold lottery tickets were disproportionately located in poor communities in every state, with revenue going to remote high schools and wealthy school districts instead of their communities.

According to the company press releasehalf of the proceeds from each lottery ticket remain in the state where the ticket was sold to support “good causes and dealer commissions.”

By 2022, the Howard Center study found that ticket sales had grown from $47 billion to $82 billion, generating more revenue than corporate taxes in ten states.

Tickets is priced at $2, with players in most jurisdictions given the option to pay an additional dollar to multiply their non-jackpot prizes. The company announced in October that the award will more than double in April 2025 as it promises bigger prizes in return. Each ticket costs $5.

Winning numbers for the jackpot are announced every Tuesday and Friday at 11:00 PM ET on the Mega Millions website. Friday’s winning number will be posted on the website shortly after the evening draw.