The Mega Millions Lottery
The Mega Millions Lottery is one of the two largest multi-state lotteries in the entire USA, along with the Powerball lottery. The Mega Millions Lottery started in 2002 and is accessible to people living in 43 states.
Basic rules
A Mega Millions jackpot starts within a minimum of 12 million dollars, and each ticket sold is a combination of five random numbers, between one and 56 and a Mega Ball number drawn from numbers one through 46. The five random numbers are unique and do not repeat on a single ticket, while the Mega Ball number is drawn from a separate pot and may duplicate one of the randomly chosen five. A player wins the jackpot when he or she matches all five of the random numbers and the Mega Ball. In incidents where players have matched a portion of the winning numbers, a lesser cash award is distributed. If a drawing does not result in a winner, the jackpot increases by a percentage based off the number of tickets sold for the previous drawing.
Multipliers
The lottery is accessible to all people of legal age who pay $1 to purchase a draw of five numbers and one Mega Ball number. If a player doubles the wager and bets $2 per draw, any winning prizes, excluding the primary jackpot, are multiplied by either two, three or four times. This multiplier is randomly selected on the night of the drawing and is universal to all ticket holders. It is available to all Mega Millions participants except those in the state of California.
Jackpot notes
The Mega Millions jackpot pays out based on the number of winning tickets sold rather than the number of individual ticket holders. For instance, if Person A purchases one winning ticket, and Person B purchases two winning tickets, Person B is awarded 66% of the entire jackpot due to their ownership of 66% of the winning tickets sold. This is often confusing to many players but is mentioned here because an identical incident occurred in 2006 in a previous Mega Millions drawing.
The Mega Millions Lottery is an enormous lottery that takes place in 43 states. Prizes from this lottery are paid out in either a lump sum or 26 annual installments.