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The lump sum payout for winning Mega Millions is about $783.3 million before taxes.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
Someone in Florida has won the $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot, the largest in its 21-year history after failing to hit a winning ticket for months.
Tuesday night’s drawing turned up a winner.
The player with the winning ticket has the option to claim it as an annuity, including an upfront payment and then 29 annual payments that increase 5% each time. Otherwise they can opt for a lump sum payout which is about $783.3 million before taxes, according to the Mega Millions lottery.
The odds of winning the top prize, which required a player to match all five white balls with numbers from 1 to 70 and then the one gold Mega Ball numbered 1 to 25, was 1 in 302,575,350.
The U.S. population is 331.9 million, by comparison. The odds of getting struck by lightning at least once in a lifetime (of 80 years) are 1 in 15,300, according to the National Weather Service.
A second Mega Millions prize of $1 million, for winning all five of the white balls, had odds of 1 in 12,607,306. There were seven such winners in Tuesday’s drawing.
The Mega Millions website says there is no system of choosing randomly generated picks that is better than any other system. “Players are encouraged to use whatever system works for them, including their own picks.”
Mega Millions, started in 2002, first had a $1 billion jackpot in 2018. There have been four subsequent $1 billion-plus grand prizes, including the current one.
A Mega Millions ticket hit the $1.348 billion grand prize in January.
The tickets, which sell for $2 each, are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Write to Liz Moyer at [email protected] and Adam Clark at [email protected]
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