To join the state lottery frenzy, all you need is a dollar, a positive attitude and a vision. Well, in fact, these days many of the games cost a little more than one dollar, but since the jackpots and instant-win games of various lotteries still offer players a fair chance at a sizeable, life-changing prize, most people think of the price they pay for their tickets as money well spent.
A few words on American lotteries
• Most of the revenue earned by a state lottery game is typically donated to charity.
• Lotto and Mega Lottery Jackpots are determined based on overall projected income through sales. Income estimates are generated weighing various considerations like recent historic trends, other competing jackpots, the level of implication of potential players, and, believe or not, even weather.
• Each instant game has its own unique characteristics, offering different odds and prizes. The overall odds of winning a prize with an instant game are approximately 1 in 5.
• All cash prize-winning tickets need to be claimed and collected within 12 months’ time from the date of the actual drawing.
The Mega Lottery
To play the Mega Millions Lottery, all it takes is to buy a ticket, pick five numbers between 1 and 56, and a single “Mega Ball” number between 1 and 46. Once you are done, make sure you don’t miss the live TV weekly drawings on Tuesday and Fridays, or check the results later in the newspapers or via dedicated lottery sites.
For each Mega Lottery game draw, 50 percent of all ticket sales become prize money, with the Grand Prize getting 63 percent of this amount. The biggest Mega Lottery jackpot ever registered was $315 million, and was won in November 2005.
Statisticians and lottery experts estimate the overall chances of winning on a 1$ play to be 1 in 39.89. On the opposite pole, the estimated odds of winning the Mega Lottery Jackpot are 1 in 175,711,536. To win the Big Prize, the 6-number combination you have previously selected on your ticket must match the 6-number combination drawn out during the corresponding game (this refers to matching the exact sequence of 5 winning numbers, plus the Mega Ball).
If there is more than one Jackpot winner, the prize is divided equally among all the parties involved. In some instances, the fixed prizes are lower than the officially published amounts (due to tax deductions and other fees, depending on the case) and may be paid on a pari-mutuel basis.
Like with most other lotteries, the Mega Lottery decides the starting amount of its Jackpot prize accounting for annuity interest, which denotes the money it will earn during the prize payment period. Subsequent Jackpot amounts are based both on projected sales profits and on the First Prize money carry-over from previous draws until the Jackpot is finally won. As the Big Prize grows, so does the frenzy surrounding the Mega Lottery.
With respect to prize payment options, the Mega Lottery allows game winners to choose between echeloned payments and collecting the total prize amount in a single transaction. Although very few people who score it big with the Mega Lottery can resist the temptation of cashing in on their prize money in whole and right away, the truth is that both payment methods have their advantages.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.talkinmince.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
