Mega Millions jackpot surges to $425 million for tonight's drawing

[Jesus Malverde]

Mega Millions could bestow its second-largest payout in jackpot history Friday after swelling to $425 million, lottery officials said.

Ticket sales for the jackpot have surged across the nation since Wednesday to generate a possible $60 million to $90 million in sales before winning numbers are announced at 8 p.m. PST, said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the California Lottery.

Mega Millions is offered in 43 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The largest jackpot so far this year went to a family in Maryland who won $189 million in October.


http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-mega-millions-jackpot-friday-drawing-20131213,0,2406355.story#ixzz2nOLve1ql

[Dawgs]

1. Hope I win it all.

Would love to share it with as many needy people as possible.

[modrepub]

2. Bought a couple of tickets this morning

@ 1 in 256 million to win, I won't be waiting up for the draw.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

3. Good Luck! 1 in 258,890,850

They changed the game in October.

From the Ohio Lottery page...

"Mega Millions drawings will still consist of five white balls and one gold Mega Ball, for a total of six winning numbers. Under a new matrix, the number of white balls will increase to 75 and the number of gold balls (the Mega Ball) will decrease to 15. The result will be overall odds of just 1 in 14.7 to win any prize."

The old number of white balls was 56.


http://www.ohiolottery.com/Games/DrawGames/megamillions/The-New-Mega-Millions-Game.aspx

[The_Commonist]

4. Oh good! That means tomorrow I get to start my new job.

Wealthy philanthropist.
I keep applying for that job, but haven't gotten it yet. This time I'll get the job, and just in time for the holidays!

[Logical]

5. LOL, it is like putting every adult name in the US in a big gigantic hat.....

and reaching in and pulling out YOU OWN name.

Math is hard!

[Saboburns]

6. And for me I'll play 2 bucks worth

I hardly ever play, only when it gets up like this. Now, before y'all tell me how the lottery is a dumb tax, and that I'm bad at math, I'll tell you that I'm very, very good at math. Very good. I know exactly what my chances of winning are. I don't expect to win, but the only people with a zero chance of winning are those that don't play.

[William Seger]

7. Mathematically, the "expectation" is actually very high

The expectation on a bet is the pay-out times the odds of winning, 425,000,000 * 1/258,890,850 = 1.64. When the expectation is greater than 1, it's a "good bet" in the sense that in the (very, very, very, very) long run, you would "expect" to come out ahead, i.e. win $425,000,000 for each $258,890,850 bet. The only minor problem is the odds against living that long...

[haele]

8. Blerg, dropped $10 to buy a Califonia Combo (5 Mega, 5 Superlotto). All the mega numbers were low.

As were most of the others. Not a single number over 25 on the Mega ticket. Guess I'm going to be on the same level as grannies who play the ages of their grandkids.
Oh well, it's a non-rent payday and there's a cheap thrill good for two days (Superlotto draws tomorrow, and there's a wider range of numbers on that ticket).
Haele