GREENSBORO, N.C. — Get each one of the Mega Millions numbers right on the January 10, 2023 drawing and you could win not millions but $1.1 Billion.
The one lump sum cash value is $576.8 million. It's not a shabby payday if you get it. What are the chances of that?
“To put it in perspective, a typical person who is a golfer would have about a one in 15,000 chance of making a hole-in-one on a particular hole. So, winning a big win in the Powerball or the Mega Millions is like getting to two holes-in-ones in a row when playing golf,” said Victor Matheson, Economics professor at the College of Holy Cross.
The odds of winning the jackpot are crazy: 1 in 302 million.
The odds of matching all five white balls: 1 in 12 million.
As many of my family members tell me, you can't win if you don't play. If someone wins, this jackpot will take its place in the top four jackpot winnings.
This would be the fourth Billion dollar jackpot winning in Mega Millions history.
$1.5 Billion in October 2018
$1.3 Billion in July 2022
$1.1 Billion ****Tonight?****
$1.05 Billion in January 2021
Our lottery expert says big jackpots are by design.
“Number one, it's now a nationwide lottery, so everyone everywhere in the country can buy this, which means there's a lot of people contributing to the jackpot. The second thing they've done is they've made these tickets not just a dollar, but $2, which means the jackpot grows twice as fast as it did a decade ago. And the third thing they've done is they've made it harder to win that jackpot. Again, one in 300 million, which means that jackpot is what is likely to roll over more often than it did in the past,” said Matheson.
How many more people are playing the lottery?
Matheson estimates there are 15 times the number of ticket buyers, even when the jackpot is just $20 million.