Lottery players will have a chance to ring in the New Year with a $640 million bonus in their bank account as a drawing is held Friday night in the Mega Millions game.
There have been 21 straight drawings without a jackpot winner thanks to stiff odds of one in 302.6 million. That has allowed the top prize to grow steadily larger, week after week.
The huge jackpot comes less than two months after the largest lottery prize ever, a $2.04 billion Powerball prize that was won Nov. 8 in California. So far, that big winner hasn’t stepped forward to claim the prize.
The reason for all the big prizes is simple — long odds ensure there are few winners and the long streaks of lottery futility allow jackpots to grow ever larger week after week.
The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot is one in 302.6 million.
The advertised jackpot of $640 million is for a winner who opts to be paid with an annuity, doled out through annual payments over 29 years. Nearly all winners take the cash option, with for Friday’s drawing will be an estimated $328.3 million.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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