As people scramble to buy their tickets before the Mega Millions drawing Tuesday night, the chances of winning the jackpot continue to dwindle. The Mega Millions jackpot is up to $1.1 billion dollars—the sixth largest jackpot in US history. No one has won the Mega Millions jackpot since April 18.
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot is 1 in 302.6 million, according to the Mega Millions site. While the chances of winning smaller prizes are significantly better, you are far more likely to get struck by lightning, be attacked by a shark or die in a plane crash than to win the $1.1 billion prize.
Nicholas Kapoor, a statistics professor at Fairfield University in Connecticut, beat the odds and purchased a winning Powerball ticket in 2016.
“I always buy a Powerball ticket to show my students how improbable it is to win,” Kapoor told USA TODAY.
But the unexpected happened and Kapoor won $100,000. He assured his students that his case was a one-off “statistical anomaly.”
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Here are five statistically improbable events that are more likely to occur than winning the Mega Millions jackpot:
Not all hope is lost! You have a better chance at winning the lottery than getting a perfect NCAA bracket — where the odds sit at 1 in 120.2 billion, according to the NCAA.
The Mega Millions drawings are held every Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. ET. You pick five numbers between 1-70 for the white balls and select one number between 1-25 for the yellow Mega Ball. Match all five white balls in any order and pick the correct yellow ball, and you're a jackpot winner.
At $1.1 billion, the jackpot for the upcoming Mega Millions drawing would be the fourth-largest jackpot in the lottery's history. Here's where the other record-holders stand:
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