Lottery players will have another shot Tuesday night at a massive Mega Millions jackpot prize that ranks as the sixth largest in the game’s history and the 10th biggest prize ever in the U.S.
The jackpot rose again Tuesday to an estimated $875 million prize. But that payout would go to a sole winner who opts for the annuity option, doled out over 30 years. Most people usually prefer a lump sum option, which for Tuesday’s jackpot would be an estimated $413.5 million.
Lottery winnings are also not tax-free. A big slice of those winnings would also go toward federal taxes, and many states also tax lottery payouts.
The jackpot has been gradually building for months thanks to 28 straight drawings without a jackpot winner. The last time someone won the game’s top prize was on Dec. 8, 2023, when two winning tickets were sold at the same gas station in Los Angeles, splitting the $394 million prize.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot ever, worth $1.602 billion, was sold on Aug. 8, 2023, in Florida.
Lottery jackpots grow so large because the odds of winning are so small. For Mega Millions, players have a 1 in 302.6 million chance of taking home the top prize.
This is just the sixth time in the nearly 22-year history of the Mega Millions game that the jackpot has been this large, and five of those six jackpots exceeded $1 billion, according to a Mega Millions statement.
If it seems like lottery jackpots topping $1 billion are more common nowadays, it’s because they are. Since 2021, seven prizes have topped $1 billion, not counting the latest game. The increased frequency is due to higher interest rates.
The higher the interest rate, the larger the annuity can grow over three decades. The U.S. is in the midst of a remarkable run of interest rate increases, with the Federal Reserve raising a key rate 11 times in 17 months, and that higher rate enables a roughly $500 million lump sum prize to be advertised as a jackpot of about twice that size.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings occur every Tuesday and Friday night at 11 p.m. EST.