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The Odds Of Winning The Mega Millions Jackpot Haven't Changed, Here's Why:
- There's good news and bad news for people hoping to win the Mega Millions' $1.02 billion dollar jackpot: The good news is despite a massive surge in ticket sales, the odds of matching all six numbers haven't changed. The bad news is players still have a one in 302.5 million chance of winning.
- Although the prize for the national lottery -- the fourth largest in Mega Millions history -- has prompted more people to buy tickets for Saturday's drawing, odds of winning are calculated based on each individual ticket, experts say. In other words, purchasing 100 tickets doesn't increase the odds of winning to 100 in 302.5 million; it merely gives the purchaser a one in 302.5 million chance of winning on each ticket.
- In fact, there have been a whopping 29 consecutive drawings since someone last matched all six Mega Millions numbers. That winning ticket was purchased by a resident of Tennessee, who claimed a $20 million jackpot, lottery officials have revealed. The largest jackpot in Mega Millions history occurred in 2016, when three winners had to divvy up $1.586 billion.