The two major and nearly national lottery games have amassed a combined jackpot of almost $2 billion, as months pass by without a winner.
Concretely, the current Mega Millions prize is at an estimated $1.1 billion, while Powerball's stands at close to $800 million. According to ABC News, it's the first time the two lottery games have grown so much at the same time. And while both of them have had larger figures in store, they never offered $800 million or more at the same time.
As prizes get bigger, more people are likely to be drawn to play, increasing the chances of a winner. The first one to put the money up for grabs is Powerball, which will have a drawing on Monday night. Mega Millions will do so on Tuesday. If there are no winners, the former will draw again on Wednesday night will the latter will do so on Friday night.
The outlet explained that the odds of getting all of Mega Millions' six numbers right is one in more than 300 million, the figure being one in 292.2 million for Powerball.
The last Mega Millions winner got lucky on December 8, an event followed by 30 drawings without a winner of the grand prize. As for the Powerball, no one has taken the jackpot since January 1st, marking 35 drawings without a winner, as it holds weekly drawings.
"There's always an air of excitement around the country when the Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots soar simultaneously," said Gretchen Corbin, president of the Georgia Lottery Corporation and lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium.
After jackpots reset at $20 million following a big win, sales don't tend to cover even 10% of the total combinations. Even though sales increase drastically after the jackpot tops the $1 billion mark, figures still don't typically cover half of the possible combinations.
Players can still win smaller prizes, as they have a 25% chance of doing so. They range from $2 to $2 million.
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