Mega Millions jackpot heads for fifth-largest draw

Mega Millions is set to undergo significant changes starting next year, when special multipliers known as Megaplier will apply to non-jackpot, starting with 2x, 3x, 4x, and 5x values.

A 10x multiplier value is also planned for early April, as the Mega Millions consortium will also be increasing the price of the base ticket to $5, a near 300% jump in the pricing.

While these changes are still a few months away, people today have a much more pressing matter to address – tonight’s draw of the Mega Millions jackpot which was not won on Tuesday, and ended up soaring to $1.15bn, the fifth-largest on record.

Due to take place later tonight, the Mega Millions draw is an outstanding opportunity to close the year – a billionaire, argues Joshua Johnston, the Lead Director for the Mega Millions Consortium, who urged players to not miss checking out their tickets.

"I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays — whether Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, or any other way people choose to celebrate the season — than by helping fulfill the dreams that come with a prize like this and prizes that will be won at all levels of the game," Johnston said.

The odds of winning though are about one in 300m, which gives you slim chances indeed! Yet, more than 100 tickets managed to almost win the jackpot – getting five of the six balls right. Should you win the $1.15bn jackpot, you can opt for annuity payments, or just take the bulk of the money, amounting to $516m net after tax and state and federal cuts.

If the past is any indication, the majority of players prefer to go for the lump sum than linger around for the annuity payments which will ultimately amount to a larger sum of money over time. If tonight’s draw is still a miss – another shot at closing the year a millionaire would come on Tuesday, January31.

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