$189 MILLION: Mega Millions jackpot rolls again

Sep 28, 2013, 7:56 am (38 comments)

Mega Millions

By Todd Northrop

It doesn't have the monster jackpot increases that Powerball has been experiencing lately, but the current Mega Millions jackpot run-up continues to offer the biggest jackpot in the world for yet another drawing.

After no lottery tickets matched all 5 numbers plus the Mega Ball Friday night, the multi-state Mega Millions jackpot was increased to an estimated $189 million.

Tuesday night we may see a very lucky mega-jackpot winner, or else the Mega Millions lottery game probably will enter into the realm of $200+ million jackpots.

The lump-sum cash value stands at a staggering $129.9 million.

Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot is the accumulation of 18 consecutive drawings without a top prize winner. The current jackpot run-up started on July 30 as a $12 million grand prize — it has been two months since Mega Millions has had a jackpot winner.

Players should note that jackpot amounts are conservative estimates provided by the lotteries, and are often somewhat higher by the time the drawing occurs. Occasionally the official jackpot estimate is raised even before the drawing, due to larger-than-expected sales.

In Friday night's Mega Millions drawing, there was no jackpot winner, but 13 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $250,000 prize: 1 from Arizona, 1 from California, 1 from Illinois, 2 from New Jersey, 2 from New York, 1 from Ohio, 1 from Oklahoma, 2 from Pennsylvania, and 2 from Texas.

The California winner will be awarded $259,368, since California awards all prizes in a pari-mutuel formula, which calculates the prize amount based on the number of tickets sold and the number of winners in each prize category. Because there was only one second prize-winning ticket in California, that one ticket will take home the entire pool of money allocated for the second prize category.

Also, a total of 47 tickets matched four of the first five numbers plus the Mega Ball to win a $10,000 prize. Of those tickets, 5 were sold in California, where the prize awarded this drawing is $14,147.

The Mega Millions winning numbers for Friday, September 27, 2013, were 9, 23, 27, 49, and 51, with Mega Ball number 38. The Megaplier number was 2.

Following the Friday drawing, the Mega Millions annuity jackpot estimate was raised $16 million from its previous amount of $173 million. The cash value was raised by $10.6 million, from its previous amount of $119.3 million.

The next Mega Millions drawing will take place Tuesday evening at 11:00 pm Eastern Time.

Mega Millions is currently offered for sale in 43 states, plus Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets cost $1 each.

Major game change coming in October

Following the drawing on October 18, 2013, Mega Millions players will be able to buy tickets for the new Mega Millions game, featuring more "white ball" numbers and fewer Mega Ball numbers, a bigger starting jackpot, easier-to-win lower-tier prizes, and the possibility to win up to $5 million without winning the jackpot.

(See Mega Millions lottery game's redesign aims at bigger jackpots, better overall odds, Lottery Post, July 17, 2013.)

The first drawing to include the new game features will be on Oct. 22, 2013.

Lottery officials expect that the upcoming changes to Mega Millions will result in bigger jackpots that occur more often, without raising ticket prices.

For a complete set of game descriptions, results, history, and all questions regarding Mega Millions, lottery players are encouraged to visit USA Mega (www.usamega.com), a Web site that caters to the Unites States's two multi-state lottery games, Powerball and Mega Millions.

The Tuesday night Mega Millions winning numbers will be published at USA Mega minutes after the drawing takes place.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

That's more like it. Keep rolling baby, until the implementation of the new matrix. Then watch the heavyweight fight between PB and the new and improved MM. That will be a joy to behold.Banana

helpmewin's avatarhelpmewin

Looking forwards to the new game Hurray!and JP going up faster

sully16's avatarsully16

Good luck everyone, feel a Michigan win coming on!Hyper

kapla

Quote: Originally posted by helpmewin on Sep 28, 2013

Looking forwards to the new game Hurray!and JP going up faster

Thumbs Down odds are already too high - don't need them getting any worse.

Prob988

The near destruction of the Megamillions game because of the $2 Powerball ticket - and the resulting jackpot fatigue - has certainly reduced the overall sales increase figures for the state lotteries, and, I think, may end up with them spinning their wheels.

There is no reason that the new matrix should be any better.  There isn't a real increase in the $12 million starting jackpot, since it's merely being masked by changing the annuity scheme from 26 years to 30 years.    What we might see is it taking 30 rollovers, more than half a year, to reach $300 million annuity, a weaker annuity in terms of cash value.

This would be opposed to the old situation, where Megamillions generated several jackpots a year that sold over $100 million tickets, a few close to $200 million.    This last jackpot sold about 33 million tickets, this on an 18th draw.   The last MM 18th draw produced sales of 190 million and rolled over to produce a jackpot that sold 651 million tickets.    This last drawing represents a loss of 160 million in sales, about 80 million in revenue.

This represents the true "success" of the $2 powerball ticket, robbing Peter to pay Paul. 

I think the state lotteries will find that they shot themselves in the foot.

RedStang's avatarRedStang

Quote: Originally posted by Prob988 on Sep 28, 2013

The near destruction of the Megamillions game because of the $2 Powerball ticket - and the resulting jackpot fatigue - has certainly reduced the overall sales increase figures for the state lotteries, and, I think, may end up with them spinning their wheels.

There is no reason that the new matrix should be any better.  There isn't a real increase in the $12 million starting jackpot, since it's merely being masked by changing the annuity scheme from 26 years to 30 years.    What we might see is it taking 30 rollovers, more than half a year, to reach $300 million annuity, a weaker annuity in terms of cash value.

This would be opposed to the old situation, where Megamillions generated several jackpots a year that sold over $100 million tickets, a few close to $200 million.    This last jackpot sold about 33 million tickets, this on an 18th draw.   The last MM 18th draw produced sales of 190 million and rolled over to produce a jackpot that sold 651 million tickets.    This last drawing represents a loss of 160 million in sales, about 80 million in revenue.

This represents the true "success" of the $2 powerball ticket, robbing Peter to pay Paul. 

I think the state lotteries will find that they shot themselves in the foot.

Yea, I wonder what their plan is if there's 10-15 second place prizes at 5x and the jackpot is only 50mill.

Jon D's avatarJon D

Quote: Originally posted by Prob988 on Sep 28, 2013

The near destruction of the Megamillions game because of the $2 Powerball ticket - and the resulting jackpot fatigue - has certainly reduced the overall sales increase figures for the state lotteries, and, I think, may end up with them spinning their wheels.

There is no reason that the new matrix should be any better.  There isn't a real increase in the $12 million starting jackpot, since it's merely being masked by changing the annuity scheme from 26 years to 30 years.    What we might see is it taking 30 rollovers, more than half a year, to reach $300 million annuity, a weaker annuity in terms of cash value.

This would be opposed to the old situation, where Megamillions generated several jackpots a year that sold over $100 million tickets, a few close to $200 million.    This last jackpot sold about 33 million tickets, this on an 18th draw.   The last MM 18th draw produced sales of 190 million and rolled over to produce a jackpot that sold 651 million tickets.    This last drawing represents a loss of 160 million in sales, about 80 million in revenue.

This represents the true "success" of the $2 powerball ticket, robbing Peter to pay Paul. 

I think the state lotteries will find that they shot themselves in the foot.

30 rollovers would not be the norm. Most likely is a reduction from 12 to 8 jackpots per year with the new MM matrix, with higher average jackpot values.

bigbear29

Yes, I agree with you 100%.  They have shot themselves in the foot.  I will be back to playing powerball.

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

Good luck to all ............ but I hope it rolls right into the first Mega Millions Jackpot win for Pennsylvania!

Woo HOO big $$$$$$$$$$

Noel Chirstmas in October LOL

Prob988

Quote: Originally posted by Jon D on Sep 28, 2013

30 rollovers would not be the norm. Most likely is a reduction from 12 to 8 jackpots per year with the new MM matrix, with higher average jackpot values.

I doubt it.   One would need to be a fool to play a game with longer odds and no added value as regularly as one plays a game with shorter odds, even if the shorter odds were astronomical already.

Granted, there are lots of fools, something recent trends in lotterys demonstrate, but I expect this game to wither and die.   It has certainly withered.

The Pennsylvania lottery tried exactly this approach with their lotto game, and as I recall, it spent close to a year rolling over continuously with very low jackpot jumps before PA simply shut the game down.

We can couple this with jackpot fatigue.   Years ago, if a jackpot was around $100,000,000 annuity, long lines formed everywhere.    Today such a jackpot produces yawns. 

If the new MM game takes the same amount of time to reach $100M as it does now - this one took 13 draws - the game is dead.

Time will tell.

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by dpoly1 on Sep 28, 2013

Good luck to all ............ but I hope it rolls right into the first Mega Millions Jackpot win for Pennsylvania!

Woo HOO big $$$$$$$$$$

Noel Chirstmas in October LOL

Hmmmmph

noise-gate

Every picture tells a story..

 

l see California taking this one- then again, l could be wrong.

Erzulieredeyes's avatarErzulieredeyes

Wow... Mega Millions is really struggling. I hope they can turn this game back around and make it fun again to play with their new matrix. MM has always been my favorite, but I find myself lately playing the more expensive PB because of the larger and more frequent won jackpots.

LottoGuyBC's avatarLottoGuyBC

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Sep 28, 2013

Every picture tells a story..

 

l see California taking this one- then again, l could be wrong.

I'll take some of that money Banana

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