Mega Millions October 23 Winning Numbers: Find Out If You’re The Lucky $1.6 Billion Winner
The Mega Million winning numbers for October 23 are in, and America will likely have a new billionaire.
The jackpot for the multi-state lottery soared to an all-time record of $1.6 billion after last Friday’s $1 billion jackpot came and went with no winner. The enormous jackpot has led to record ticket sales in a number of states as people take a chance at winning the prize (the full Mega Millions winning numbers can be found below).
As the Associated Press noted, it is no accident that the jackpot for the drawing has reached such astronomical heights. After years of lagging sales for jackpots that remained in the “normal” range under $100 million, lottery officials decided to increase the odds — and thus increase the jackpots. They added a number of extra balls that increased the odds of anyone picking all of the Mega Millions winning numbers, and in doing so ensured that jackpots would continue to grow. The Mega Millions jackpot for October 23 was able to reach $1.6 billion thanks to a losing streak dating all the way back to July.
Several states have reported record ticket sales leading up to the Mega Millions October 23 winning numbers being picked, but there is a downside as well, the Associated Press noted. In tweaking the rules to make for larger jackpots, they also made the smaller ones less attractive to the more infrequent lottery buyers.
“States have generally reported increased Mega Millions and Powerball sales since the change,” the report noted. “But the ever-increasing jackpots have left them ever-more dependent on those massive payouts because prizes that once seemed so immense now seem almost puny in comparison. Consider the current $430 million Powerball jackpot. That’s an incredible amount of money, but compared to the Mega Millions prize hovering around $1 billion, it barely seems worth the bother of buying a ticket.”
The odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 323 million, which Cornelius Nelan, a math professor at Quinnipiac University, told the Associated Press would be equivalent to rolling dice and getting a 1 — 11 times in a row. But others say that lottery players aren’t really expecting to win, but instead taking part in a cultural phenomenon.
If you won the Mega Millions lottery, how would you invest your instant wealth?https://t.co/I4MER8SiQ4 pic.twitter.com/iJXmfEEphn
— Forbes (@Forbes) October 23, 2018
“It creates this sense of community. It creates this sense of camaraderie. I also think that it creates a potential sense of regret to not be the one playing,” Jane L. Risen, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago, told the Associated Press.
The Mega Millions winning numbers for October 23 are 28 – 70 – 5 – 62 – 65 and Mega Ball 5.
