The record-breaking Mega Millions jackpot has risen again ahead of Friday’s drawing. The jackpot is now an estimated $540 million.
When the jackpot was at $500 million, the breakdown was $19.2 million a year for 26 years or a single payment worth $359 million.
Tuesday night’s jackpot was $363 million, fed by weeks of drawings without a top winner. The previous record jackpot in the Mega Millions game was $390 million in 2007, split by two winners in New Jersey and Georgia.
In Tuesday night’s game, 47 players came very close, matching 5 of the 6 winning numbers. Each of those tickets is worth at least $250,000.
Mega Millions is played in more than 40 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Lottery officials had placed the odds of winning Mega Millions at 1 in 176 million.
So what if you do beat those odds?
Experts say you’ll want a team of financial advisors, including a tax expert. Then, keep a low profile or risk getting inundated by friends and relatives you didn’t know you had. And don’t go on a spending spree. Most winners spend all their money within five years.
The winning numbers Tuesday night were: 9, 19, 34, 44 and 51. The Mega Ball was 24.
The retailer who sells the winning ticket will receive a maximum $1 million bonus.
(Source: WABC)
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5 Responses
Marbeh nechasim, marbeh daigah
Hmm. It actually may be a good investment now. If you win yourself, you get a bigger payout than the odds.
The odds are actually in your favor. 1:176,000,000 for a $540,000,000 payout is in your favor. If you bought 176,000,000 lottery tickets you would be guaranteed to win $540,000,000 on your purchase. Of course if you have to split the winnings many ways you could lose.
Don’t forget that you have to pay tax on the winnings. So a $540M prize, which is really only about $390M, comes down to a mere 180M or so. So while the odds are still in your favor, they’re only just; and if you have to split the prize then they’re suddenly against you.
The other odds are not in your favor. I saw a study a while ago that most large winners (70%+) are worse off after just 2 years than if they hadn’t won including divorces, suicide, bankrupcy, drugs and alchoholism etc… almost all of us would not be able to handle it.
Bill Gates has left his kids “only” $10 million each saying he didnt think any more would be good for them. I suspect even that gained suddenly would not be good for most of us.