In a few minutes from now, Mega Millions will hold the draw and announce the results in a couple of hours as to where and who'd won the jackpot for Tuesday's national lottery. But the fact that one in about 303 million would be luckiest one to get today's jackpot amount of $372 million or nobody may get it.
Winning numbers Tuesday, 12/18/2019
Undaunted, Christopher Loure (Name changed) went ahead and bought two tickets and found those numbers closely resembling the numerology forecast for him -- 06-15-24-33-42 with an MB of 19 and three multiplier as the choice. In addition, he also bought another with 11-26-39-41-54 with an MB of 8 and of course, 3 multiplier. In a few minutes, his luck was known to him. Obviously, he is no where nearer to any of the winning numbers -- 22-30-53-55-56 and MB16, with 2x multiplier.
Winning chances vs numbers
As per the theory of probability, if the six numbers (5+1) on a ticket match the numbers drawn by the Mega Millions lottery, the ticket holder is a jackpot winner—regardless of the order of the numbers. The probability of this happening is 1 in 13,983,816. The chance of winning can be explained, each number-wise, as follows:
The first number drawn has a 1 in 49 chance of matching theoretically but in the case of Mega Millions, it's one in 24, according to the organizers, since it involved effectively matching the five numbers, besides a megaball. The probability of winning a minimum amount of lottery amount that is $2 in Mega Millions is one in 37, according to them.
Matching all 6 numbers
Players may pick six numbers from two separate pools - five different numbers from 1 to 70 (the white balls) and one number from 1 to 25 (the gold Mega Ball) - or select Easy Pick/Quick Pick that the web site provides online. Your chances of winning the jackpot by matching all six winning numbers, besides a multiplier choice in a drawing, is one in 302 millions.
Usually, the jackpots start at $40 million and a minimum of $5 million is added per draw if there's no winner to claim the jackpot, rolls on. From the jackpot amount to $2, there are a total of nine ways to win a prize in Mega Millions. See the table below:
It is a hard to calculate the minimum number of tickets one should purchase to guarantee that at least one of them matches at least 2 numbers in the results, held twice a week on Tuesday and Friday. In the 5 to 90 lotto, the minimum number of tickets that can guarantee a ticket with at least 2 matches is 100. In the case of Mega Millions, it is slightly less at one in 37.
The biggest ever jackpot amount of $1.5 billion was held on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 and a single winning ticket from South Carolina turned around the fortune of a winner in Simpsonville. It is the biggest ever jackpot of Mega Millions in its history of about 24 years since August 31, 1996.
Soon, the SC lottery education website in a message to the jackpot $1.5 billion winner said: "Our message to the $1.5 BILLION #Mega Millions jackpot winner: Sign the back of the ticket, place the ticket in a safe location, speak with a trusted advisor and CALL THE LOTTERY at 1-866-736-9819. Take a deep breath and enjoy the moment!" Whether the winner did it or not, it's a momentum for everyone to be excited.
45% amount go away in Tax
Many winners choose to be anonymous but after a certain period of time, their names go into the public records. However, on the flip side of it, individuals winning prizes greater than $600 should notify the Internal Revenue Service. An in-depth study of tax revealed that nearly 45% of the cash amount one receives will end up in payment of tax to the IRS.
Winners may choose to claim the entire sum in one go or have an initial payment made to themselves and make arrangements for the rest to be received as annuities each year for a period of time. Each of these additional payments is 5% greater than the previous one. This is in order to protect and sustain the just acquired lifestyle of the winner. The percentage of the annuities however varies based on the amount won.
