The dream of winning millions and millions of dollars, or even a billion, is enough to keep people digging through their wallets for cash to spend on lottery tickets like the Mega Millions.
While the odds of winning are low, there’s nothing wrong with dreaming big.
However, the reality of the situation is that your odds of winning the huge $970 million jackpot at tonight’s drawing are about 1 in 302,575,350, CNN reports. The Mega Millions jackpot has slowly been growing in size. Past drawings have fallen short with no jackpot winner.
Tonight could be the night a lucky person gets the prize, otherwise, we’re looking at a jackpot that is at 1 billion in the future.
There are certainly ways to up your odds in the game that is purely based on sheer luck. You could force your significant other or partner to buy a ticket. Then you’d have to take it from them or be prepared to split it. The same is the case for any children over 18, they may be helpful tools in getting you closer to that jackpot.
However, if you want to win it all on your own, that’s different. You’d show up to get that cash with the winning ticket autographed with your rich signature. The moment would be powerful, but there are more moments in life that would be even more likely.
What are the Odds of Mega Millions?
According to the Centers for Disease and Prevention, the odds of being struck by lightning are about 1 in 500,000. If you live in the Southeast, you’re at the highest risk. If you live in Florida, run. The “lightning capital of the U.S.” has had over 2,000 people get struck by lightning in just 50 years.
Believe it or not, it is possible to be allergic to water. In fact, 1 in 230 million people has had that condition called aquatic urticaria, according to BBC.
According to The New York Times, the odds of making it in the NBA under 6 feet tall is also more likely than winning this jackpot tonight. There’s a 1 in 1.2 million odds of becoming a baller that isn’t much taller.
The odds of having a vending machine fall on you are 1 in 112 million. Somehow, these snack havens are twice as deadly as a shark attack.
Paying for the Lucky Ticket
Americans have spent more than 70 billion dollars trying to win big in the lottery. The number of people who have won and the amount of the total jackpots look tiny compared to that.
About 60% to 70% of that money is being spent on scratchers. The rest is spent on games like Powerball and Mega Millions.
The experience of spending money on lottery tickets and never winning anything, priceless.
There is only one way to truly enhance your odds in the lottery. That is to buy more tickets for each game. According to Harvard statistics professor Dr. Mark Glickman there are no other ways to get closer to that money.
Even if you’ve won the lottery before, your odds will be the same. Even buying a lottery ticket every day won’t up your odds since each lottery will have its own independent odds.
“My advice is don’t play the lottery and expect to win. That said, it can be fun to play the lottery and imagine you win. That’s a different approach, and it’s just like any other gambling: You should only be willing to spend what you can afford to lose,” Dr. Lew Lefton told CNBC.
The next drawing for the Mega Millions jackpot is tonight at 11 p.m. ET.
