The chance of hitting the jackpot at Mega Millions is one in 303 million. It is therefore more realistic to be struck by lightning.
Des Plaines – A lucky guy from Des Plains (Illinois) has hit the jackpot of the US lottery Mega Millions, which is worth the equivalent of 1.31 billion euros. For comparison: In Germany, the jackpot in the lottery draw on Saturday was 15 million euros. “We’re excited to see who won and we’re looking forward to congratulating the winner soon!” the organizer announced on its website on Saturday, according to dpa .
In the last 29 draws leading up to Friday, no lottery player had guessed the right six. As a result, the top prize had grown steadily and was now $1.337 billion. In the history of the company, this was one of the largest sums that have ever been played. The chance of hitting the mega million jackpot is about one in about 303 million. It is therefore more realistic to be struck by lightning. According to data from the US authorities, the probability here is one in a million.
US lottery Mega Millions: 1.31 billion euros are not yet a world record
According to Spiegel, however, the sum does not yet represent a world record. It is more likely that it could become the second highest win in the history of the lottery. In general, the highest lottery winnings are in the United States. In 2016, three winners won a total of $1.586 billion
They had entered the Powerball lottery. In 2018, a lucky guy won 1.537 billion on the Mega Millions lottery. In Europe, only Spain’s Christmas lottery “El Gordo” comes close to these sums. There, sums of over 700 million euros have already been paid out for a single win.
El Gordo comes close to US lottery Mega Millions
Since the tickets are very expensive, players often join together to form syndicates – this way, the winnings are shared among several people. According to the Tagesschau , the Spaniards bought tickets for a total of 3.4 billion euros in 2021. 30 percent of this goes directly to the state. A so-called “décimo”, a zentellos, is popular. (mse)
