Mega Million Jackpot Hits $400 Million, 3rd Largest In Game’s History
The Mega Millions jackpot soared to a staggering $400 million after Friday night’s drawing in Atlanta, Georgia, the 20th straight drawing without a big jackpot winner. More than 70 million tickets were sold for the March 14 game, and that total is certain to swell for the March 18 lottery, as Mega Millions fever begins to grip aspiring gajillionaires.
The $400 million jackpot will be the third-largest in the 22-year history of the nationwide Mega Millions lottery game — and the seventh largest in United States lottery history.
The cash value option — if a single jackpot winner decides to take the prize as a single, immediate payment rather than spreading it our over 30 years — will pay $224.8 million.
That total makes the March 18 cash value jackpot the 9th largest ever and 5th biggest for the Mega Millions game. The cash value total just edges out a Powerball cash jackpot on August 15, 2012, which totaled $224.7 million.
Even though no one matched all five Mega Millions numbers plus the Mega Ball, five ticket holders nailed the first five, making those tickets Match 5 winners and paying their happy holders $1 million each.
Except in this case, incredibly, three of those tickets, sold in Arkansas, Florida and Virginia, also matched the MegaPlier number, meaning that those three Mega Millions players are now $3 million richer.
The other two Match 5 winners, who pocket $1 million, were sold in Ohio.
Here are the Mega Millions numbers drawn Friday night:
7 — 20 — 40 — 54 — 69 Mega Ball 12
Since Mega Millions was revamped in October of 2013 — an overhaul that pushed the odds of winning the jackpot to a mind-boggling 258,890,000 to one — there have been only seven Match 5 MegaPlier winners. Amazingly, three of them came in last night’s drawing.
Since the Mega Millions revamp, there have now been an even 100 Match 5 instant millionaires, total.
Tuesday’s $400 million Mega Millions jackpot, if a winner elects to take the prize in 30 annual payments, is worth $13,333,333 per year for 30 years. After federal taxes that comes to an estimated $10 million per year, according to green eyeshades at USAMega.com.
The cash value jackpot on Tuesday, once Uncle Sam takes his healthy cut, will leave a potential Mega Millions winner with approximately $168.6 million, more than enough to live on, most likely.
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