No Mega Millions winner, jackpot climbs to $1.6 billion

A sign displays the estimated Mega Millions jackpot at a convenience store Friday in Chicago. Friday’s jackpot was the second-largest in U.S. lottery history.
A sign displays the estimated Mega Millions jackpot at a convenience store Friday in Chicago. Friday’s jackpot was the second-largest in U.S. lottery history.

SATURDAY UPDATE:

DES MOINES, Iowa — No one won the latest Mega Millions drawing, meaning the jackpot climbs to a staggering $1.6 billion.

Mega Millions officials say no tickets matched all six numbers to claim the estimated $1 billion grand prize in Friday night's drawing.

The next drawing will be Tuesday. The $1.6 billion estimated jackpot would be the largest prize in U.S. history. The second-largest jackpot was a $1.586 billion Powerball drawing on Jan. 13, 2016.

The Mega Millions jackpot has been growing since July, when a group of California office workers won $543 million.

It costs $2 to play the game. The odds of winning the jackpot aren't good. The chance of matching all six numbers and taking home the grand prize is one in 302.5 million.

Mega Millions is played in 44 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

EARLIER:

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Mega Millions jackpot soared to an estimated $1 billion Friday, becoming the second-largest lottery prize in U.S. lottery history.

Lottery officials increased the grand prize just hours ahead of the Friday night drawing. The prize climbed from $970 million.

Although the jackpot keeps increasing, the odds of winning remain stuck at 1 in 302.5 million.

The prize has grown so large because no one has hit the jackpot since July 24, when a group of employees at a Wells Fargo branch in California won $543 million.

The $1 billion prize refers to the annuity option. Most winners opt for cash, which for Friday night's drawing would be $565 million.

A single winner in New York City who opts for the cash jackpot would only bring home about half that much after all taxes are paid, according to calculations by H&R Block.

Lottery officials changed the odds in recent years to lessen the chance of winning a jackpot, which in turn increased the opportunity for top prizes to reach stratospheric levels.

The theory was that bigger jackpots would draw more attention, leading more players to plop down $2 for a Mega Millions or Powerball ticket. The more tickets sold, the more the jackpots grow, leading to more players.

Powerball was the first to try the theory in October 2015, when it changed the potential number combinations. In doing so, Powerball changed the odds of winning the jackpot from one in 175 million to one in 292.2 million. Officials at that time also increased the chances of winning small prizes. Mega Millions made similar moves in October 2017, resulting in the odds worsening from one in 259 million to one in 302.5 million

Most people don't expect to win and instead think the $2 ticket is a small price to dream and be part of a wishful conversation with co-workers or family.

Standing on the sidewalk outside the E-Z Mart gas station in the South Main Street neighborhood in Little Rock, Lyn Simmons clutched a lottery form he had methodically filled in with a No. 2 pencil.

He wasn't giving up his secret numerical combination, but he said he knew exactly what he was going to do with the $1 billion jackpot if his numbers were called Friday.

"Help the homeless," he said, then continued. "Buy 15 German shepherds, build a new house."

"With all brand-new furniture," his wife Patricia Simmons interjected.

The couple took turns ticking off the remainder of their wish list: a new sport utility vehicle for her and a Mustang, truck and motorcycle for him.

Inside the small convenience store, customers stood in the "lottery line" as the cashier punched the keys and printed out ticket after ticket. The line had been short, but steady since Thursday, said the clerk, who declined to give her name.

At the Road Runner store on Broadway in downtown Little Rock, the line was backed up to the door.

Eric King, who just moved to Maumelle from Blytheville, said he doesn't normally play the lottery, but the call of the Mega Millions $1 billion jackpot was too great to ignore.

He didn't trust himself to choose his own numbers and instead let the machine do the work.

"I'm hoping to win so I can go back to school and get my bachelor's degree," he said, then added his wife's and daughter's college education to the list. "And I'll buy my first house."

Road Runner cashier Susie Hawkins let out a big sigh of exhaustion when asked if the line of lottery hopefuls had been consistent.

"All. Day. Long. 'Can I get a lottery ticket?' Again and again," she said. "It never stops."

One woman, Hawkins said, spent $300 on one Mega Millions ticket after the next. Tickets cost $2 and the optional add-on multiplier feature is $1.

"I got so excited that I had to get one myself," she said, laughing. "Seriously, I hope it blesses whoever gets it."

At the On The Run Exxon gas station in North Little Rock, cashier Chris Johnson said Mega Millions purchasers had been flocking to the store in droves since Thursday.

"It's been crazy," he said. "People come in and are spending $100 at a time."

One woman bought $200 worth of tickets with money she had set aside to pay her monthly electric bill, Johnson said.

"Luckily, I don't play that mess," Johnson said. "Those odds are not strong enough for me. I need to be 100 percent sure before I let go of my money."

Johnson said he was expecting a last-minute crowd before the 10 p.m. drawing.

"That's when they all get out of the house and run down here," he said.

To win the jackpot, a player must correctly pick six numbers -- five white balls from 1 to 70 and the yellow "mega ball" from 1 to 25.

Mega Millions is offered in 44 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Officials say that if there isn't a winner, the prize for Tuesday night's drawing would be $1.6 billion, tying the largest U.S. lottery prize.

Information for this article was contributed by Scott McFetridge and staff members of The Associated Press; by Reade Pickert of Bloomberg News; and by Jeannie Roberts of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

photo

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Donna Bragg (left) with the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery gives Crystal Barker of North Little Rock a Mega Millions ticket Friday afternoon in downtown Little Rock. The jackpot for Friday’s drawing was an estimated $1 billion.

A Section on 10/20/2018

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