The story appears on

Page A9

October 22, 2018

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » World

Roll the numbers — you can become a billionaire

The US Mega Millions jackpot grew to US$1.6 billion, a world record for a lottery, after Friday’s drawing produced no winner of the grand prize, officials said.

The next Mega Millions draw will be on Tuesday, after no one hit all numbers — 15, 23, 53, 65, 70 and the Mega Ball 7 during Friday night’s draw.

“Mega Millions has already entered historic territory, but it’s truly astounding to think that now the jackpot has reached an all-time world record,” Gordon Medenica, lead director of the Mega Millions Group, said in a statement.

The Mega Millions is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association, along with several other lottery games including one called Powerball.

A drawing was held on Saturday for a Powerball jackpot worth an estimated US$470 million. The winning numbers were 16, 54, 57, 62, 69, and the Powerball was 23.

There was no winner for Saturday’s Powerball drawing and the new jackpot is estimated to be US$620 million, the lottery announced on its website early yesterday. The lump sum cash payout is estimated at US$354.3 million and the next drawing for the Powerball is set for Wednesday.

Both lotteries’ jackpots have been increased recently by rule changes that have decreased the odds of winning.

The Mega Millions’ odds were changed a year ago to 1-in-303 million from 1-in-259 million, to generate larger prizes.

If a player hits all six numbers to win the jackpot, they can opt for an immediate cash payment of US$904 million or receive the US$1.6 billion prize over 29 years.

The current jackpot beats the previous record, a US$1.586 billion jackpot for a Powerball drawing in 2016, said Seth Elkin, a spokesman for Mega Millions.

The 24 semi-weekly Mega Millions drawings have failed to produce a top winner since July 24, when an 11-member office pool in Santa Clara County, California, shared a US$543 million jackpot. That is partly by design.

When lottery officials changed the Mega Millions rules in October 2017 to shrink the odds of winning and increase ticket prices to US$2 from US$1, then-Mega Millions president Debbie Alford said the innovations would deliver “attention-grabbing jackpots” and generate increased revenues.

The US lottery industry generates about US$80 billion a year.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend