A RECORD-BREAKING Mega Millions jackpot has risen to $754 million in the US after four months of no wins.
The jackpot became the ninth-largest in the game’s history on Tuesday, hitting $714 million, but after another winless drawing that day, it went up by $40 million.
It comes after the Powerball lottery saw a similar dry spell, which eventually led to a jackpot of $1.7 billion.
The Mega Millions jackpot cash value went from $334.1 million on Tuesday to the current $352.8 million.
It climbed after nobody was able to match all six balls in the most recent draw.
This took place on Tuesday, when the balls to match were 2, 19, 33, 53 and 61, with the Mega Ball being 14.
The next drawing is set for Friday, October 31, at 11 pm ET on Halloween.
There were still plenty of wins in the Tuesday drawing, with 482,430 successful tickets in the lower price brackets.
Across the US, lottery players took in $11.7 million collectively from the Tuesday draw.
The current jackpot is one of the highest the Mega Millions has ever seen.
The two highest jackpots totalled $1.602 billion, claimed in 2023, and $1.537 billion in 2018.
This $754 million jackpot has been growing since June, when the winning player took over a month to come forward, despite having won $348 million.
That ticket was purchased in a convenience store in Northumberland County, Virginia.
LOSE HALF
Under state law, winners can request to remain anonymous if they win a prize deemed big enough.
When they do come forward, they will likely have to give up half of their winnings, as well as pay tax on them.
This is because of the choice they will face between accepting their money as one lump sum or in instalments over the next several years.
LUMP SUM VS ANNUITY
In many cases, taking the money in one go significantly reduces the amount that a winner will walk away with.
For example, one of the two men who won the recent Powerball jackpot was given the choice of $893.5 million over 30 instalments or $410.3 million as a one-time lump sum.
The two players came from Missouri and Texas, but due to the former’s stricter tax laws on lottery winnings, the Texas player took home $16.4 million more.
Across every state, the IRS takes a 24% cut of your lottery winnings and an additional 37% in income taxes.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/money/15413602/mega-millions-lottery-jackpot-draw-numbers/