(CHICAGO AP) There was no winner for Friday’s Mega Millions lottery drawing, which had a record jackpot of $1 billion. The prize has now grown to a record $1.6 billion if a ticket matches all six winning numbers.
The next Mega Millions drawing will be Tuesday at 11 p.m. ET.
The $1.6 billion jackpot has a cash option of $904 million, even after the government takes its cut.
To put that in perspective, a single winner would be richer than Chance the Rapper, whose net worth is estimated to be $33 million, or even some entire island countries.
The grand prize has grown so enormous because no one has won the jackpot since July 24 when a group of 11 California co-workers shared a $543 million prize.
The previous record jackpot in Mega Millions was a $656 million prize that was shared by winners from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland in March 2012.
Mega Millions jackpots start out at $40 million and roll over if there is no jackpot winner. Overall odds of winning the jackpot 1:302,575,350.
Mega Millions tickets are sold in 44 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Mega Millions jackpot is not the only big jackpot up for grabs this week. The jackpot for Saturday’s Powerball drawing is up to $470 million.
Whoever wins, financial adviser Cortlon Cofield said it’s important to be careful with the money.
“One third of all lottery winners go bankrupt within five years, so they’re actually in a worse position than before they won the lottery,” he said.
The top 10 largest US Jackpots
Here is a look at the 10 largest U.S. jackpots that have been won and the states where the winning tickets were sold:
1. $1.6 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)
2. $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)
3. $656 million, Mega Millions, March 30, 2012 (three tickets, from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland)
4. $648 million, Mega Millions, Dec. 17, 2013 (two tickets, from California and Georgia)
5. $590.5 million, Powerball, May 18, 2013 (one ticket, from Florida)
6. $587.5 million, Powerball, Nov. 28, 2012 (two tickets, from Arizona and Missouri)
7. $564.1 million, Powerball, Feb. 11, 2015 (three tickets, from North Carolina, Puerto Rico and Texas)
8. $559.7 million, Powerball, Jan. 6, 2018 (one ticket, New Hampshire)
9. $543 million, Mega Millions, July 24, 2018 (one ticket, California)
10. $536 million, Mega Millions, July 8, 2016 (one ticket, from Indiana)
If you win the Mega Millions jackpot now, you could be worth almost two Taylor Swifts
All week, the climbing Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots have been awakening the frivolous dreamers inside of us. Come on, who could resist entertaining some “what ifs” when the money at stake is over a billion dollars?
To recap, no one’s won the big Powerball or Mega Millions payout for a long time, so now the jackpots are sinfully high. The Powerball pot is $430 million, and the top Mega Millions prize is a cool Dr. Evil-approved $1 billion.
Granted, those numbers get pared down a LOT once cash value calculations and good old Uncle Sam get a hold of the winnings. But still, it’s an obscene amount of money.
For some context, Taylor Swift’s net worth is reportedly around $300 million. If you win the Mega Millions “billion,”, you could take home $565 million and be almost twice as rich as her with absolutely none of the work. Are you familiar with the Commonwealth of Dominica, a small island country in the West Indies? Their 2017 GDP was $562 million. You could literally be as rich as an entire country.
Even if you won the Powerball jackpot and had to settle for the $248 million cash value payout, like a peasant, you could still be worth 0.82 Taylor Swifts and finally afford a comfortable two bedroom in San Francisco.
