Mega Millions jackpot hits $1.1B after 3-month losing trend
BALTIMORE -- Tuesday night's drawing is the fifth-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. History and the third-largest Mega Millions jackpot ever.
Since there were no tickets sold with all six numbers in the latest drawing of the Mega Millions lottery, the jackpot for Tuesday night's drawing has climbed to $1.1 billion.
Wildly high jackpots like this one and the nearly $2 billion Powerball in November, entice more and more Marylanders to buy tickets.
"This is where we start to see sales start to really accumulate in between each of these drawings and if the sales support raising the jackpot, they'll increase it," Doug Lloyd, a communications specialist for the Maryland lottery, said.
Maryland lottery's review for the 2022 fiscal year shows that profits from the sale of lottery tickets contributed a new record of $673.7 million to state programs, beating the prior record set in FY2021 by $6.3 million.
That money goes to the Maryland general fund which supports programs like education, public health and safety services.
The cash option for Tuesday night's $1.1 billion prize is 576.8 million dollars—that leaves you with 381 million dollars after taxes.
WJZ asked people buying lottery tickets at Canton Market in Canton what they would do with the money if they won.
"I'll give it to charity—probably 80% of it," Jason Johnson said. "Who knows what I'll do with the rest but I'm giving most of it away."
Tom McCleery told WJZ that he would share his lottery winnings with his loved ones.
"I'd probably give a lot of money to my friends," McCleery said. "I'd go through my list of friends, and everybody would get a couple million and we'd go have some fun."
Meanwhile, Paul Vidziunas said he would, "buy a nice place where it's warm."
The overall chance of winning a prize is one in 24.
Lloyd said the lottery has made three Marylanders millionaires since October.
The odds of hitting this jackpot are one in more than 300 million, according to the lottery association
"Strange things do happen," Johnson said. "Somebody's got to win. Why not me?"
If no one wins tonight, the next jackpot is expected to be 1.35 billion dollars.
The drawing is set for 11 p.m. EST but it usually takes a couple of hours before it's clear if there is a winner.
