$900 MILLION: Mega Millions lottery jackpot raised just hours after initial estimate

Oct 17, 2018, 12:24 pm (126 comments)

Mega Millions

By Todd Northrop

Well, that was quick.

Less than 12 hours after the initial estimate for Friday's Mega Millions jackpot was set early this morning, the already ground-shaking grand prize has now increased to an estimated $900 million.

The jackpot's estimated cash value has also been increased to $513.4 million.

Friday's $900 million Mega Millions jackpot is the largest in the game's history, and the 2nd-largest lottery jackpot in world history. The only larger lottery jackpot ever awarded was on January 13, 2016, when three tickets from California, Florida, and Tennessee shared a $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot.

Combined with tonight's $345 million Powerball jackpot, players have more than $1.2 billion in lottery jackpots to play for this week.

Players should expect that the Mega Millions jackpot will increase again one or more times before the Friday drawing, and unless standing in long lines can be considered "fun", players should buy their tickets early.

Players looking for the nearest official lottery retailer — or maybe just a different store without such a long line — are urged to use the free Lottery Places app available for iOS, Android, and Windows. The app can find lottery stores in every Mega Millions state and can search across state lines — something even official state lotteries can't do.

Michigan lottery players can bypass the store completely and buy their Mega Millions lottery tickets online.  Players outside the USA can try their luck with a reputable butler service.

Friday's jackpot started at $40 million on July 27, and is the result of 24 drawings with no jackpot winner.  Mega Millions jackpots start at $40 million and roll until the jackpot is won. Players win the jackpot by matching five numbers from a field of 70 numbers and one Mega Ball number from a field of 25 numbers. Drawings are conducted each Tuesday and Friday at 11:00 pm Eastern Time.

Mega Millions lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com).  The USA Mega Web site provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States' two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.

Mega Millions is currently offered for sale in 44 states, plus Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 pm Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.

Top 25 United States lottery jackpots of all time

Friday's Mega Millions jackpot currently stands as the 2nd-largest lottery jackpot in world history.  That position may rise before the drawing, as lotteries are typically conservative in their initial estimates, and brisk sales may push the jackpot estimate higher by draw time.

  1. Powerball: $1.5864 billion, Jan. 13, 2016 - California, Florida, Tennessee
  2. Mega Millions: $900 million, Oct. 19, 2018 - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
  3. Powerball: $758.7 million, Aug. 23, 2017 - Massachusetts
  4. Mega Millions: $656 million, Mar. 30, 2012 - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
  5. Mega Millions: $636 million, Dec. 17, 2013 - California, Georgia
  6. Powerball: $590.5 million, May 18, 2013 - Florida
  7. Powerball: $587.5 million, Nov. 28, 2012 - Arizona, Missouri
  8. Powerball: $564.1 million, Feb. 11, 2015 - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
  9. Powerball: $559.7 million, Jan. 6, 2018 - New Hampshire
  10. Mega Millions: $543 million, Jul. 24, 2018 - California
  11. Mega Millions: $536 million, Jul. 8, 2016 - Indiana
  12. Mega Millions: $533 million, Mar. 30, 2018 - New Jersey
  13. Powerball: $487 million, Jul. 30, 2016 - New Hampshire
  14. Powerball: $456.7 million, Mar. 17, 2018 - Pennsylvania
  15. Mega Millions: $451 million, Jan. 5, 2018 - Florida
  16. Powerball: $448.4 million, Aug. 7, 2013 - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
  17. Powerball: $447.8 million, Jun. 10, 2017 - California
  18. Powerball: $435.3 million, Feb. 22, 2017 - Indiana
  19. Powerball: $429.6 million, May 7, 2016 - New Jersey
  20. Powerball: $425.3 million, Feb. 19, 2014 - California
  21. Powerball: $420.9 million, Nov. 26, 2016 - Tennessee
  22. Mega Millions: $414 million, Mar. 18, 2014 - Florida, Maryland
  23. Powerball: $399.4 million, Sep. 18, 2013 - South Carolina
  24. Mega Millions: $393 million, Aug. 11, 2017 - Illinois
  25. Mega Millions: $390 million, Mar. 6, 2007 - Georgia, New Jersey

For those keeping score, the number of jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:

  • Powerball: 15
  • Mega Millions: 10

Top 25 cash value jackpots

Since many lottery winners collect their winnings in cash, the lump-sum payout is an important measure of what a winning ticket could be worth.

Looking at the cash value, the upcoming Mega Millions jackpot ranks as the 2nd-largest cash value in world history.

  1. Powerball: $983.5 million cash, Jan. 13, 2016 ($1.5864 billion annuity) - California, Florida, Tennessee
  2. Mega Millions: $513.4 million cash, Oct. 19, 2018 ($900 million annuity) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
  3. Powerball: $480.5 million cash, Aug. 23, 2017 ($758.7 million annuity) - Massachusetts
  4. Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, 2012 ($656 million annuity) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
  5. Powerball: $384.7 million cash, Nov. 28, 2012 ($587.5 million annuity) - Arizona, Missouri
  6. Powerball: $381.1 million cash, Feb. 11, 2015 ($564.1 million annuity) - North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
  7. Mega Millions: $378 million cash, Jul. 8, 2016 ($536 million annuity) - Indiana
  8. Powerball: $370.9 million cash, May 18, 2013 ($590.5 million annuity) - Florida
  9. Powerball: $352 million cash, Jan. 6, 2018 ($559.7 million annuity) - New Hampshire
  10. Mega Millions: $347.6 million cash, Dec. 17, 2013 ($636 million annuity) - California, Georgia
  11. Powerball: $336.8 million cash, Jul. 30, 2016 ($487 million annuity) - New Hampshire
  12. Mega Millions: $324 million cash, Mar. 30, 2018 ($533 million annuity) - New Jersey
  13. Mega Millions: $320.5 million cash, Jul. 24, 2018 ($543 million annuity) - California
  14. Powerball: $284 million cash, May 7, 2016 ($429.6 million annuity) - New Jersey
  15. Mega Millions: $281.9 million cash, Jan. 5, 2018 ($451 million annuity) - Florida
  16. Powerball: $279.1 million cash, Jun. 10, 2017 ($447.8 million annuity) - California
  17. Powerball: $273.9 million cash, Mar. 17, 2018 ($456.7 million annuity) - Pennsylvania
  18. Powerball: $263.5 million cash, Feb. 22, 2017 ($435.3 million annuity) - Indiana
  19. Powerball: $258.2 million cash, Aug. 7, 2013 ($448.4 million annuity) - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
  20. Powerball: $254.7 million cash, Nov. 26, 2016 ($420.9 million annuity) - Tennessee
  21. Mega Millions: $246.5 million cash, Aug. 11, 2017 ($393 million annuity) - Illinois
  22. Mega Millions: $240 million cash, Jan. 4, 2011 ($380 million annuity) - Idaho, Washington
  23. Mega Millions: $233.1 million cash, Mar. 6, 2007 ($390 million annuity) - Georgia, New Jersey
  24. Mega Millions: $230.9 million cash, Mar. 18, 2014 ($414 million annuity) - Florida, Maryland
  25. Powerball: $227.8 million cash, Feb. 19, 2014 ($425.3 million annuity) - California

The number of cash value jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:

  • Powerball: 14
  • Mega Millions: 11

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

Thud

Just went to get my tickets at my favorite lil country store and saw the electronic sign showing $900 Million...

WOW that was fast

BuyLow's avatarBuyLow

PartyI think it will top $1,000,000,000.00 before the drawing!  Party

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by BuyLow on Oct 17, 2018

PartyI think it will top $1,000,000,000.00 before the drawing!  Party

I Agree!

Bleudog101

Todd, great work, you may have to update it again.

You guys in New Jersey have a nice lottery to hit tomorrow night.

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by Bleudog101 on Oct 17, 2018

I Agree!

I Don't No No

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by Bleudog101 on Oct 17, 2018

Todd, great work, you may have to update it again.

You guys in New Jersey have a nice lottery to hit tomorrow night.

Still waiting to here where the NJ million dollar ticket was sold.  Here it was Madisonville, KY.

Kyle7824's avatarKyle7824

Quote: Originally posted by Bleudog101 on Oct 17, 2018

Todd, great work, you may have to update it again.

You guys in New Jersey have a nice lottery to hit tomorrow night.

Don’t think like that... pick your own numbers, note, they were all odd, that’s half you don’t have to worry about...

time to scoop up powerball

BuyLow's avatarBuyLow

Quote: Originally posted by paymentplan-man on Oct 17, 2018

I Don't No No

Why not?  It was raised $32,000,000.00 in several hours.  I don't think a raise of $100,000,000.00 is out of the question by Friday.

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

One Ticket!

One Winner!

One Curmudgeon!

Let's go Mega Millions!

Noel Christmas in October!

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by BuyLow on Oct 17, 2018

Why not?  It was raised $32,000,000.00 in several hours.  I don't think a raise of $100,000,000.00 is out of the question by Friday.

This raise wasn't due to people buying more tickets since the last drawing, its because the 868,000,0000 was under estimated. Im sure it will increase some from ticket sales but not 100M. Unless the amount of 900M was also underestimated.

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by paymentplan-man on Oct 17, 2018

This raise wasn't due to people buying more tickets since the last drawing, its because the 868,000,0000 was under estimated. Im sure it will increase some from ticket sales but not 100M. Unless the amount of 900M was also underestimated.

Where do you get your data from?  Do you work for MUSL?  Just wondering.  Still sticking to my story about $1 billion for Friday.

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by Bleudog101 on Oct 17, 2018

Where do you get your data from?  Do you work for MUSL?  Just wondering.  Still sticking to my story about $1 billion for Friday.

"Where do I get the data".

  You cant play mega millions after 10:45 eastern time the day of the drawing time until Wednesday when the terminals go back online. So lets just say that the machines don come back online until 9am on Wednesday. That means that if you are playing on the east coast that means it went up 30 something million in like 4 hours instead of 12. That's just not likely especially if you look at the total amount spent on the jackpot over the 4 days from last Friday-Tuesday. There are sites you can visit like lotto report which will show you how much each state is spending on tickets as well as how much was spent overall from one jackpot to the other.

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by paymentplan-man on Oct 17, 2018

"Where do I get the data".

  You cant play mega millions after 10:45 eastern time the day of the drawing time until Wednesday when the terminals go back online. So lets just say that the machines don come back online until 9am on Wednesday. That means that if you are playing on the east coast that means it went up 30 something million in like 4 hours instead of 12. That's just not likely especially if you look at the total amount spent on the jackpot over the 4 days from last Friday-Tuesday. There are sites you can visit like lotto report which will show you how much each state is spending on tickets as well as how much was spent overall from one jackpot to the other.

Original Bey's avatarOriginal Bey

14. How late can I purchase a MEGA MILLIONS ticket on a draw night? On draw nights, you will be able to purchase MEGA MILLIONS tickets until game sales close at 10:00 p.m. ET, as adequate time is required to ensure that the draw data has been securely received from all 46 member lotteries before the MEGA MILLIONS drawing is held at 11:00 p.m. ET in Atlanta, GA. 

There will be a 5-minute sales break between 10:00 p.m. and 10:05 p.m. ET on the night of the MEGA MILLIONS drawings, and sales after 10:05 p.m. ET will be for the next draw.

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on Oct 17, 2018

Todd Vader is wise!

Yes Nod

wander73's avatarwander73

I posted a scenario of a way possibly any members can hit this thing.  However,  I have other things I am doing.  I think MM people are doing this on purpose.  There will be a winning ticket Fri.

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by Original Bey on Oct 17, 2018

14. How late can I purchase a MEGA MILLIONS ticket on a draw night? On draw nights, you will be able to purchase MEGA MILLIONS tickets until game sales close at 10:00 p.m. ET, as adequate time is required to ensure that the draw data has been securely received from all 46 member lotteries before the MEGA MILLIONS drawing is held at 11:00 p.m. ET in Atlanta, GA. 

There will be a 5-minute sales break between 10:00 p.m. and 10:05 p.m. ET on the night of the MEGA MILLIONS drawings, and sales after 10:05 p.m. ET will be for the next draw.

Sorry I forgot to say that this was for my state I would imagine that not all states are different. Or who knows maybe just different stores. I buy from the same 7 eleven and they told me that it goes offline after 1045 pm and I have to come play tomorrow starting at 9 am. But still non of that matters there's not going to be many tickets being bought after the drawing and Id be willing to bet that even if you could buy tickets at any time it wouldnt be enough to cause the jackpot to grow from 868-900 so quickly. Nope the only reason it was 868 was because the preliminary estimate was much lower than it should have been not because people went on a after draw and through the night spending spree especially since again if you look at how much people are spending on tickets its been very low.

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by Original Bey on Oct 17, 2018

14. How late can I purchase a MEGA MILLIONS ticket on a draw night? On draw nights, you will be able to purchase MEGA MILLIONS tickets until game sales close at 10:00 p.m. ET, as adequate time is required to ensure that the draw data has been securely received from all 46 member lotteries before the MEGA MILLIONS drawing is held at 11:00 p.m. ET in Atlanta, GA. 

There will be a 5-minute sales break between 10:00 p.m. and 10:05 p.m. ET on the night of the MEGA MILLIONS drawings, and sales after 10:05 p.m. ET will be for the next draw.

While you are correct this applies to Atlanta Georgia whereas what I wrote applied to Alexandria VA...... source I walked in after midnight to get a ticket and was told machines turn off at 1045 and come back online at 9am.

Original Bey's avatarOriginal Bey

Quote: Originally posted by paymentplan-man on Oct 17, 2018

Sorry I forgot to say that this was for my state I would imagine that not all states are different. Or who knows maybe just different stores. I buy from the same 7 eleven and they told me that it goes offline after 1045 pm and I have to come play tomorrow starting at 9 am. But still non of that matters there's not going to be many tickets being bought after the drawing and Id be willing to bet that even if you could buy tickets at any time it wouldnt be enough to cause the jackpot to grow from 868-900 so quickly. Nope the only reason it was 868 was because the preliminary estimate was much lower than it should have been not because people went on a after draw and through the night spending spree especially since again if you look at how much people are spending on tickets its been very low.

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/mega-millions-jackpot-rolls-over-868m-winner-georgia/XhFIOhZIAJGUqKU0Q6YCgJ/

 

In a matter of hours Wednesday, the Mega Millions jackpot jumped from $868 million to a record $900 million.

Georgia Lottery officials said the $32 million bump was due to “brisk sales” after the jackpot rolled over from Tuesday night’s $667 million drawing.

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by Original Bey on Oct 17, 2018

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/mega-millions-jackpot-rolls-over-868m-winner-georgia/XhFIOhZIAJGUqKU0Q6YCgJ/

 

In a matter of hours Wednesday, the Mega Millions jackpot jumped from $868 million to a record $900 million.

Georgia Lottery officials said the $32 million bump was due to “brisk sales” after the jackpot rolled over from Tuesday night’s $667 million drawing.

PartyPartyPartyPartyPartyPartyPartyParty

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by paymentplan-man on Oct 17, 2018

While you are correct this applies to Atlanta Georgia whereas what I wrote applied to Alexandria VA...... source I walked in after midnight to get a ticket and was told machines turn off at 1045 and come back online at 9am.

No, lottery machines across the state of Virginia do not turn off the ability to sell tickets between 10:45 pm and 9:00 am.  It's not a great idea to rely upon a single clerk at one retailer, who apparently confused their store's hours of operation with the entire state's lottery machine policies.

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on Oct 17, 2018

No, lottery machines across the state of Virginia do not turn off the ability to sell tickets between 10:45 pm and 9:00 am.  It's not a great idea to rely upon a single clerk at one retailer, who apparently confused their store's hours of operation with the entire state's lottery machine policies.

Lurking

Boy is this MM jackpot movie good

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by Original Bey on Oct 17, 2018

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/mega-millions-jackpot-rolls-over-868m-winner-georgia/XhFIOhZIAJGUqKU0Q6YCgJ/

 

In a matter of hours Wednesday, the Mega Millions jackpot jumped from $868 million to a record $900 million.

Georgia Lottery officials said the $32 million bump was due to “brisk sales” after the jackpot rolled over from Tuesday night’s $667 million drawing.

Ok lets look at it like this

Fridays jackpot there was a total of $116 Million spent towards that draw

Last night was a total of 210 Million spent which means that within 24(4) hrs or 96 hrs people spent 94 million or a little less than 1 million every hr although there's peak times to buy tickets (primary after working hrs, during lunch, or right before the draws) Its safe to assume that the hrs that most people are sleeping there are very little tickets sales.

Sot then lets assume that people buy twice as many tickets which hasnt been happening so far but lets just say thats the case. This means that people will spend 192 Million but lets just round it to 200 million. This would mean that in 3 days we can expect the whole population to spend roughly 200 MIllion or rounded up to 3 million per hr. Which means that after 12 hrs people would have to have spent that 3 million per hr. Which is hard to believe since this is the time where people would have been spending the least amount of money on tickets. It comes down to a matter of opinion I guess. I dont believe people will be spending that much on tickets but if you choose to believe so then so be it. BUt if you can agree with me on the fact that its doubtful that people were still buying tickets at 1am like they would at say 11am then the only logical reason for the bump is that the 868 first estimate was simply do to being highly underestimated instead of a buying spree at 1am in the morning.

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

While I would be happy with the starting jackpot, I really want this for my little work pool. There are 8 of us in the pool, and 2 of them have/had breast cancer (one is stage 4) the other is in remission and we just learned that another person has cancer that has spread and is inoperable, stage 4. The med bills are staggering, even with insurance.

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by rcbbuckeye on Oct 17, 2018

While I would be happy with the starting jackpot, I really want this for my little work pool. There are 8 of us in the pool, and 2 of them have/had breast cancer (one is stage 4) the other is in remission and we just learned that another person has cancer that has spread and is inoperable, stage 4. The med bills are staggering, even with insurance.

yeah that's a perfect pool amount

motto76

You are right  about the lottery letting this pot grow its money in there pockets and they doing it on purpose. Am glad i only play two tickets last night am not trying to get into this hype and spend alot of money ...

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by motto76 on Oct 17, 2018

You are right  about the lottery letting this pot grow its money in there pockets and they doing it on purpose. Am glad i only play two tickets last night am not trying to get into this hype and spend alot of money ...

Yeah 2 tickets is my absolute max. Saw someone on Reddit spend like 60 bucks (posted the tickets) and got nada. I felt so bad.

motto76

its crazy saw this guy at the Gas station he spent 200.00 on tickets i can only imagine waking up the next day and knowing you didn't win ...  when the jackpot gets this high people just get so excited and spend every little bit of there cash ... so sad am only buying 2 tickets for Friday

wander73's avatarwander73

What is they purposely do something tomorrow night?  break the record Tuesday! anybody ever think about!

 

 Here for you don't even know what you would do with the morning then I honestly can't believe what I'm reading off a some people some you sound so desperate

Horsegeek40

I got my ticket with megaplier option. If it rolls to a billion then oh my word what could a single winner do????

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by motto76 on Oct 17, 2018

its crazy saw this guy at the Gas station he spent 200.00 on tickets i can only imagine waking up the next day and knowing you didn't win ...  when the jackpot gets this high people just get so excited and spend every little bit of there cash ... so sad am only buying 2 tickets for Friday

Yeah what I typically do is go in and get 1 quick pick first. If i get something stupid like 4-17-27-37-70 Ill get another but if the numbers are somewhat spread im cool with that. For instance I bought a ticket in MD on monday with 09-22-39-43-67(20) I was pk with those numbers. Didnt win crap but at least to my human computer the combination didn't look impossible. Its the worst thing ever when you go in wanting to get 1 quickpick and get like a ticket with all 60s. Once my ticket had 4 repeat numbers from the last draw lol.

paymentplan-man

For $50 M a pop you and your family could spend a week and a half at the International Space Station. 

motto76

That's what i do .. get a quick pick and look how the numbers are spread out .. for example  the ticket i bought yesterday had all high numbers which didn't make sense to me.. so i chose my own numbers from low to high and two numbers came 3 and 49 ... i will just keep on doing that ..

OldSchoolPa's avatarOldSchoolPa

Quote: Originally posted by dpoly1 on Oct 17, 2018

One Ticket!

One Winner!

One Curmudgeon!

Let's go Mega Millions!

Noel Christmas in October!

I always buy one ticket. For Friday, I just might splurge a bit and buy 2 for a total outlay of $4. When I win, I will say, "And this is how you turn $4 into $500M overnight! I also want to thank the Lottery Post community for keeping up the faith that one of us would win the big one! Now it is time for me to go and continue my work and take care of my immediate family.  Anyone seeking a business or personal loan should visit their local bank as I am not in that business. Those seeking a handout might want to go to an intersection or start up a GoFundMe campaign. Thank you and have a good day."  Does anybody think that sounds rude? I don't care as I know I never have sought a handout and won't seek to give away money like that. I also cannot lend money to people as doing so can result in me losing my professional license and getting slapped with huge fines by the SEC.

vbrich

Quote: Originally posted by motto76 on Oct 17, 2018

its crazy saw this guy at the Gas station he spent 200.00 on tickets i can only imagine waking up the next day and knowing you didn't win ...  when the jackpot gets this high people just get so excited and spend every little bit of there cash ... so sad am only buying 2 tickets for Friday

Three for me. I always had good luck whenever I play three lines. I don't play frequently but 3 hits sweet spot when ever I do play.

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by motto76 on Oct 17, 2018

That's what i do .. get a quick pick and look how the numbers are spread out .. for example  the ticket i bought yesterday had all high numbers which didn't make sense to me.. so i chose my own numbers from low to high and two numbers came 3 and 49 ... i will just keep on doing that ..

Yeah another similar idea is to Google search random number generator and choose one of those numbers generated for the particular draw game. It works just the same because its random and you have the power over which set you spend money on. I've only bought draw tickets from a terminal like 4-5 times but on Friday when I did it I kept pressing cancel because I got like 15 crazy combinations in a row. I kept getting stuff like 37,27,57 time and time again or like 2,4,6.

BuyLow's avatarBuyLow

Quote: Originally posted by CDanaT on Oct 17, 2018

Lurking

Boy is this MM jackpot movie good

Indeed, one of the actors apparently didn't practice his/her script well enough though. BananaJester

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by OldSchoolPa on Oct 17, 2018

I always buy one ticket. For Friday, I just might splurge a bit and buy 2 for a total outlay of $4. When I win, I will say, "And this is how you turn $4 into $500M overnight! I also want to thank the Lottery Post community for keeping up the faith that one of us would win the big one! Now it is time for me to go and continue my work and take care of my immediate family.  Anyone seeking a business or personal loan should visit their local bank as I am not in that business. Those seeking a handout might want to go to an intersection or start up a GoFundMe campaign. Thank you and have a good day."  Does anybody think that sounds rude? I don't care as I know I never have sought a handout and won't seek to give away money like that. I also cannot lend money to people as doing so can result in me losing my professional license and getting slapped with huge fines by the SEC.

Your state is actually trying to pass a law for anonymity for wins 250k and better. So who knows this could come true beginning in early 2019 which means if you win and wait you could be in luck. Although even if it passes in time I would be willing to bet they try to tell you since the win happened before the law was made you would still be SOL

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on Oct 17, 2018

I knew somewhere in your hippocampal, there was a funny bone.

* Huzzah on the updates!

motto76

oh cool thanks will check it out . i have also noticed there a pattern that these numbers repeat from time to time ... meaning there are certain numbers that are always a pair you look it up from the previous draws and that helps a lot ...

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by motto76 on Oct 17, 2018

oh cool thanks will check it out . i have also noticed there a pattern that these numbers repeat from time to time ... meaning there are certain numbers that are always a pair you look it up from the previous draws and that helps a lot ...

I try not to look for patterns since that goes against the realms of being random. As long as the tickets i get are not some funky combination its good enough for me.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

Quote: Originally posted by paymentplan-man on Oct 17, 2018

This raise wasn't due to people buying more tickets since the last drawing, its because the 868,000,0000 was under estimated. Im sure it will increase some from ticket sales but not 100M. Unless the amount of 900M was also underestimated.

So you think they made an estimate, announced the next jackpot, and then went back to look at the estimate and noticed that they forgot to carry the 2 or something? You know that this is only the second time in the history of the world that they've had to make a sales estimate after nobody wins a jackpot that was already over $600 million, right?

That means they've got almost zero data about how much bigger sales will be as a result of the huge jackpot. The best they can do with the first estimate is rough guess, and they want to be very sure they low ball it. That doesn't mean they  have to wait until sales are finished to get useful and reliable data.

Everyone as an individual may vary their purchases from one drawing to the next, but as a whole we're very predictable.  As soon as they have a couple of hours worth of sales data they'll have a much better idea of what total sales will be. Sales tend to be concentrated toward the end of the sales period, but the percentage of sales that happen in the first few hours are similar from one drawing to the next. If the first 5 hours of sales for the previous Friday's drawing had $1 million in sales and the first 5 hours of sales for this Friday's drawing had $3.5 million in sales it's a very safe bet that the jackpot increase will be at least 3.5 times as much. The only thing that keeps them from a nearly perfect estimate after a few hours of sales is that they aren't sure about the last minute rush because of people who decide they don't want to miss out on what may be their last chance at the jackpot before somebody wins it.

As far as reaching a billion by the time it's over I'm not sure. During PB's record run the jackpot increased by about $420 million when nobody won the $528 million jackpot. Based on that it seems reasonable that a rollover from 667 might increase by at least 400, for a total of 1.07 billion. OTOH there are other factors that could reduce the size of the increase. We know that jackpot fatigue has reduced sales for any given jackpot, and MM sales tend to be lower than PB sales. Then there's the fairly high PB jackpot that's also up for grabs right now. When PB increased by 420 MM was less than 200. I think that all adds up to a pretty good chance that we'll see a  billion by Friday night, but I wouldn't be surprised if it finishes around 950.

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Oct 17, 2018

So you think they made an estimate, announced the next jackpot, and then went back to look at the estimate and noticed that they forgot to carry the 2 or something? You know that this is only the second time in the history of the world that they've had to make a sales estimate after nobody wins a jackpot that was already over $600 million, right?

That means they've got almost zero data about how much bigger sales will be as a result of the huge jackpot. The best they can do with the first estimate is rough guess, and they want to be very sure they low ball it. That doesn't mean they  have to wait until sales are finished to get useful and reliable data.

Everyone as an individual may vary their purchases from one drawing to the next, but as a whole we're very predictable.  As soon as they have a couple of hours worth of sales data they'll have a much better idea of what total sales will be. Sales tend to be concentrated toward the end of the sales period, but the percentage of sales that happen in the first few hours are similar from one drawing to the next. If the first 5 hours of sales for the previous Friday's drawing had $1 million in sales and the first 5 hours of sales for this Friday's drawing had $3.5 million in sales it's a very safe bet that the jackpot increase will be at least 3.5 times as much. The only thing that keeps them from a nearly perfect estimate after a few hours of sales is that they aren't sure about the last minute rush because of people who decide they don't want to miss out on what may be their last chance at the jackpot before somebody wins it.

As far as reaching a billion by the time it's over I'm not sure. During PB's record run the jackpot increased by about $420 million when nobody won the $528 million jackpot. Based on that it seems reasonable that a rollover from 667 might increase by at least 400, for a total of 1.07 billion. OTOH there are other factors that could reduce the size of the increase. We know that jackpot fatigue has reduced sales for any given jackpot, and MM sales tend to be lower than PB sales. Then there's the fairly high PB jackpot that's also up for grabs right now. When PB increased by 420 MM was less than 200. I think that all adds up to a pretty good chance that we'll see a  billion by Friday night, but I wouldn't be surprised if it finishes around 950.

Yes I believe they had a estimate and then once they got a final number the estimate changed. Thats how it works for every drawing. Right after the drawing they say hey based off of how sales have been progressing we think the estimate will be 500 million but it actually comes out that its 517 later on. Thats more believable then thinking that there were enough ticket sales to increase the pot by 32 after 12 hrs. Now if they released this 32 Million jump at say 10pm tonight I would believe it no question asks because that's a whole day to buy tickets when everyday joes would actually buy them . But spending that much while people are sleeping or spending hrs trying to get to work is not believable to me. Which IM entitled to believe that way. If people really spent enough to raise the pot by 32 million in 12 hrs when things aren't busy that means we should see another nice fat raise tonight or a even fatter raise Thursday at noon. So I guess we will have to wait then and see.

vbrich

Since I am sick and having a day off today, let's have fun...

 

For my thinking and it's opposite...

If I can't collect winning anonymously, this is too large sums of money to hide from everybody and keep it for myself, I will have to share this.  I absolutely trust my brothers so we are going to split equal amounts and that alone will take care of their families and mine, we talked about this and agreed upon this when topic of jackpot win comes up at dinner and this usually happens when JP get this large. And of course our parents will continue to be well taken care of. 

Even I quit my job and my brothers shut down their companies, we all need to do something. My suggestion would be put away 25%($15MM or better) of winning for our own and put 25% to be used to earning funds for insurance and college funds for families that participate at small fees (like $10/mo per family).  And large portion of rest will be used to run our own Shark Tank type of investment firm, from reading things everyone will come after the portion of "their share" for what ever the reason.  I am all for family member that is in illness.  But if relatives and friends come and ask to invest money on their plans, ideas and gimmick, they will have to provide their business plans that can pay us back and can be started with under $500k. If business isn't ideal and gets approved by all and/or don't like our suggestion and person don't have track record of being hard worker. They will probably get gift like under $15k/yr from each of us for like 3 years.  I have a feeling our "Shark Tank" will not survive but if we had provided 10 out of 20 families and friends with steady income and other failed 10 with well paying jobs at the succeeded one.  Gun and knife pointing from them may not be a big issue in our lives...

Now... for that random people or friend's uncle's sister's boyfriends or voodoo priests that visit/call/send letters threaten us with our lives and curse our family... we will have to see...

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