NEW YORK (REUTERS) – The US Mega 1000’s and hundreds jackpot grew to US$1.6 billion (S$2.2 billion), a world file for a lottery, after Friday’s drawing produced no winner of the grand prize, officers talked about.
The next Mega 1000’s and hundreds draw shall be on Tuesday, after no one hit all of the numbers of 15, 23, 53, 65, 70 and the Mega Ball 7 all through Friday evening time’s draw.
“Mega 1000’s and hundreds has already entered historic territory, nonetheless it is truly astounding to suppose that now the jackpot has reached an all-time world file,” Gordon Medenica, lead director of the Mega 1000’s and hundreds Group, talked about in an announcement.
The file jackpot stage for the multi-state US lottery follows a switch by the game’s organizers a yr prior to now to lower the odds of worthwhile, to one-in-303 million from one-in-259 million, in an effort to generate greater prizes.
If a participant hits all six numbers to win the jackpot, they’ll go for a direct cash payment of US$904 million or receive the US$1.6 billion prize over 29 years.
The current jackpot beats the sooner file, a US$1.586 billion jackpot for a Powerball drawing in 2016, talked about Seth Elkin, a spokesman for Mega 1000’s and hundreds.
A Spanish lottery known as El Gordo often generates a much bigger purse than Mega 1000’s and hundreds or Powerball, nonetheless that money is break up between many different winners and no single prize in El Gordo approaches the size of the latest Mega 1000’s and hundreds jackpot, Elkin talked about.
The 24 semi-weekly Mega 1000’s and hundreds drawings have failed to provide a excessive winner since July 24, when an 11-member office pool in Santa Clara County, California, shared a US$543 million jackpot.
That is partly by design.
When lottery officers modified the rules for Mega 1000’s and hundreds in October 2017 to shrink the odds of worthwhile and enhance ticket prices to US$2 from US$1, then-Mega 1000’s and hundreds president Debbie Alford talked about the enhancements would ship “attention-grabbing jackpots” and generate elevated revenues.
Leaders of the US lottery commerce, which generates about US$80 billion in annual earnings, have experimented with completely totally different tips and promoting and advertising and marketing strategies as they’ve encountered falling curiosity amongst millennials, who’re used to the almost-instant gratification of on-line video video games and social media.
Rule modifications have moreover been revamped time to decrease the odds of worthwhile the jackpot in Powerball, one different widespread multi-state lottery.
Powerball has a separate draw scheduled on Saturday. Its jackpot rose on Friday to US$470 million from US$430 million, with a lump sum price of US$268.6 million.
Mega 1000’s and hundreds tickets are purchased in 44 US states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. A lot of states allow on-line ticket purchases, nonetheless they prohibit out-of-state and worldwide purchases, Elkin talked about.
If a number of winner is picked, the jackpot could possibly be divided proportionately, as occurred when the sooner Mega 1000’s and hundreds file of US$656 million was drawn in March 2012 and was shared by winners in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland, a lottery official talked about.