This is a multi-jurisdiction lottery game played in 44 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S.Virgin Islands, the draw is in Atlanta every Tuesday and Friday night giving many people the chance to win millions of dollars.
The game started as a 6/49 lottery game but changed to its current format on October 28th, 2013.
When the winning is more than one jackpot ticket, it is split into two separate prize pools. The winner can win either one or both pools.
Mega millions offer its players an option to increase their non-jackpot prizes.
This is by adding funds to the prize pool which could increase the total payout in case you win some smaller prizes on offer.
How it works
Here are some things you should know about how to play Mega Millions:
Mega Millions jackpot tickets trade at around $2 per ticket. You have to purchase enough tickets for your stake, which is between one and two dollars per ticket, depending on where you live.
Also, you can choose to place your stake online via an online lottery aggregator such as Lottosend, where your money goes directly into the Mega Millions ticket fund.
There are two separate pools of numbers where players have to pick at least six numbers: five from 1-70 (white balls) and one from 1-25 (gold mega balls).
A player can also choose to select “quick pick” and the system will do a random selection of the balls.
A win is when you match all the numbers with the outcome of the drawing. Jackpot prizes vary depending on sales made on that material day.
Possible winnings
Winnings in mega millions are in two different categories; annuity option and cash option. The two options are as discussed below;
Annuity option
In this option, mega millions get payments as an immediate payment followed by annual payments of 29.
The payment given is always 5% bigger than the previous one.
This helps to protect the players purchasing power in case of future chances of inflations.
Cash option
This is a huge amount of money equal to the price stated in the mega million jackpot. It is given once in your winning.
The biggest winners
In the history of Mega Millions, there have been players who have won large sums of money.
The largest win in history stands at $1.537billion won on October 23, 2018, in South Carolina.
Another jackpot win was by 4 members in Michigan. It was worth $1.05billions.
All the above-mentioned games cost $2.00 per ticket. You can place a bet more than once.
What to know about playing online
For many customers, playing Mega Millions online can be a little confusing at first. How do you know the selection of your ticket?
Will they mail you the winning ticket?
Here are answers to these and other frequently asked questions about how to play Mega Millions online.
When you place an order for a ticket online, you will receive an email confirmation with the serial number and a scanned image of the ticket.
This will serve as your proof of ownership, which you can use to claim any prizes that you win.
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The Lottery taxes
Mega Millions is a lottery game played across 44 states, Washington D.C., and the Virgin Islands. If you win the Mega Millions jackpot, then congratulations!
You’ve just won millions of dollars! But before you can enjoy all that money, you’ll need to figure out how much in taxes you owe.
The good news is that lottery winnings are not subject to federal income tax.
The bad news is that lottery winnings are still subject to state income tax—and if you live in California or New York City, you may also be liable for local income tax.
While there are some states that exempt lottery winnings from state income tax, other states charge as much as 8%.
History of the game
The history of the game can be traced back to 1996 when it was first introduced as The Big Game.
It began to be sold in states like Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan and Virginia. Initially, draws were weekly on Friday.
Up to 1999, winners receive their prizes in cash but the implementation of a new law that made it mandatory for winners to claim their prizes using annuity came about.
In 2002 the name of the company was changed from the big game to Big Game Mega Millions.
The game has seen some changes throughout its history due to the increased number of participants and at one point there was a need for two draws per week; Tuesday and Friday but later the one draw per week on Friday came in.
The main reason why this happened was that most people were waiting for Friday but with two draws they could not wait until the weekend which resulted in a drop in sales.
The Mega Millions most drawn numbers
The lottery is all about the luck of the draw.
But there are numbers that have been drawn more often than others.
01, 19, 20 and 28 were the most drawn numbers between 2009 and 2018.
The least drawn numbers were: 15, 29, 41 and 48.
Mega Millions results online
The results are available on the Mega Millions website. Following each drawing, the announcement of the winning numbers occurs.
Lotto results from The Lotter After Mega Millions lottery security has validated winning ticket purchases, information on the number of winners comes out on Wednesday and Saturday mornings.
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FAQ
What is Mega Millions?
Mega Millions® is a multi-state lottery game with MASSIVE jackpots and MASSIVE entertainment.
What was the amount of money I can win?
Mega Millions has nine different ways to win, with rewards ranging from $2 to the jackpot.
What are the locations where I can play Mega Millions?
Lottery retail chains in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands.