- The 43-state Mega Millions jackpot is up to an estimated $400 million for Friday's drawing
- No one has won the jackpot in 20 drawings
- If someone wins, jackpot would be the fifth-largest in North American history
- The record was $656 million jackpot split three ways last year
The U.S. Mega Millions jackpot grew to an estimated $400 million for the next draw on Friday after no one won the top prize of $344 million on Tuesday evening, lottery organizers said.
The next draw is slated for Friday, December 13 - considered an unlucky date by some - at 11 p.m. E.T. (0400 GMT Saturday).
If the winner chose to take a cash prize instead of an annuity, it would amount to $216 million, according to Mega Millions officials.
5 THINGS MORE LIKELY TO HAPPEN THAN YOU WINNING THE LOTTERY
- Be killed by vending machine - odds: 1 in 112 million
- Have identical quadruplets - odds: 1 in 15 million
- Become president - odds: 1 in 10 millionTuesday's top prize had a cash payout option of $184 million, according to the lottery, which is played in a majority of U.S. states. The winning numbers from that drawing were: 5, 12, 22, 41, 65 and 13, Mega Millions said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2522064/Mega-Millions-jackpot-second-biggest-400-million.html#ixzz2nmlntf4p
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook - Die from bee, hornet or wasp stings - odds: 1 in 6.1 million
- Die from being left-handed - odds: 1 in 4.4 million
No one has won the jackpot in more than two months, pushing the purse steadily higher, although it remains well below the record-setting $656 million won on March 30, 2012.
The next largest prizes in the 17-year history of Mega Millions were worth $390 million and $380 million.
Five tickets worth $1 million were sold in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut and Ohio. Those tickets matched the first five numbers.
There’s no word which stores sold those tickets.
To win, you need to match six numbers -- five from 1 to 75 and one from 1 to 15.
In addition to the jackpot, there are eight other winning combinations for prizes, of $1, $2, $5, $50, $500, $5,000 and $1 million.
If one ticket matches all six numbers for the $400 million mega-jackpot, the winner will have the choice of receiving the full jackpot in 30 annual payments, or a cash option of approximately $216.4 million before taxes.
'The strong sales of Mega Millions tickets mean more than just an exciting jackpot,' said Paula Otto, executive director of the Virginia Lottery and lead director for the Mega Millions group.
'They mean greater profits to benefit each state in which Mega Millions is played.'
Friday's jackpot has been growing since October 1st, when Mega Millions had its most recent jackpot winner. The jackpot has now rolled 20 times without a winner.This is the largest jackpot since changes were made to Mega Millions that include larger starting jackpots, a million-dollar second prize, and a new matrix of 1-75 for the first five numbers and 1-15 for the Mega Ball number.
One thing that did not change is the price of a Mega Millions ticket: still $1.
The odds of winning the jackpot are approximately one in 259 million. The odds of winning any of the Mega Millions prizes are approximately 1 in 15.
Mega Millions holds the record for the largest jackpot ever, at $656 million. That jackpot on March 30, 2012, was split by three winning tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.
The average American is more likely to be killed in a mass murder than win the jackpot. Fifty three times more likely, in fact. Dying in an avalanche sometime in the next decade is 160 times more likely than winning.
Unfortunately, not all Americans have a chance of winning the biggest jackpot in history as Mega Millions is only played in 43 states.
However residents in other non-playing states can purchase tickets in the states they are sold in as there is no residency requirement to play and win.
REven non U.S. citizens are allowed to play, but the tax they would have to pay on winnings is different.
At 173-million-to-one, the odds of scoring the largest lottery win in US history are so long they're literally unfathomable. And mathematicians say there's no way to improve them - except by buying more tickets.
In theory, with such a massive jackpot would be possible to 'invest' $173 million to play every number combination and then rake in $560 million in winnings.That is, at $1 a ticket, and 173 million possible combinations, you could play every number and increase the odds of winning to 100 percent and rake in more than 320 percent profit. (Though, that begs the question: 'If you've got $173 million laying around, why are you playing the lottery?')
A lot of lottery players are superstitious and buying tickets on Friday 13th may believe their luck is cursed from the start.
But Matthew Vea, a computer programmer who developed a computer analysis to track Mega Millions winning numbers since 2005, said he has found no pattern - though higher numbers tend to be picked more often.
The Mega Millions lottery is designed to select five balls with numbers 1 through 56 and a sixth ball numbered 1 to 46 at random.
That means, at least in theory, no number combination is more likely to be selected than any other.
However, numbers 48 and 36 have appeared more than any others - about 11 percent of the time.
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