Mega Millions $1.55 billion jackpot: How to purchase your tickets

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Mega Millions $1.55 billion jackpot: How to purchase your tickets
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The Mega Millions recently hit a massive milestone. The popular draw game’s history has included many major jackpot wins. But the record has been broken as the Mega Millions jackpot exceeded $1.5 billion when no ticket won the jackpot in last Friday’s drawing.

The current jackpot is at a gargantuan $1.55 billion, the highest ever for Mega Millions and the third-highest ever across Mega Millions and Powerball.

A $1.55 billion jackpot is massive even by lottery standards. Only twice have larger jackpots been won, both from Powerball. That makes the current $1.55 billion jackpot the largest in Mega Millions history since its inception in 1996. Here’s a look at the 10 biggest jackpots across Powerball and Mega Millions in history.

If nobody wins the Mega Millions for a few more drawings, the jackpot could potentially rise to be the largest in history across both multi-state draw games.

On Friday, August 4, 2023, one Michigan player won a cool $2 million playing Mega Millions. The player matched five numbers with a Megaplier, which was 2x for that day’s drawing. The $1 million prize for matching five numbers was doubled, netting the winner a $2 million jackpot.

New to Mega Millions? No problem. Here’s a look at some of the most common questions about the game.

Yes, you can get a Michigan Lottery bonus worth up to $100 when you sign up using our link and the promo code MLIVE.

The bonus is a 50% first deposit match for up to $100. Only your first deposit will be matched. Deposit $200 or more and you’ll get the total bonus offer with $100 credits to play online lottery games. If you deposit $50, for example, you’d get $25 in bonuses.

Mega Millions is a draw game, which means you select numbers for your ticket. You pick five white ball numbers. Each one must be between 1 and 70 with no repeats. Then you pick a single gold Mega Ball number between 1 and 25.

Tickets cost $2 per entry, and you can buy many at once.

You can play online or at a participating retail location.

MEgaplier is a $1 per-entry add-on to Mega Millions tickets. If you pay the $1 per ticket, you’ll get a chance to multiply any non-jackpot winnings you receive. These multipliers are random and range from 2x to 5x. Megaplier is how the above winner’s $1 million prize was doubled.

Mega Millions drawings occur on Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 p.m. ET. You can buy tickets up to 15 minutes before a drawing takes place. Any tickets bought after that cutoff will be applied to the next drawing.

Your actual winnings depend on a few things. First, there’s the payout method you select. You can opt for a 30-year annuity with annually increasing payments, which will get you the full jackpot amount (pre-tax). The other option is a lump-sum single payment of about half the advertised jackpot.

Either payout method is pre-tax, so you’ll have to fork up a hefty chunk of the winnings to the IRS for federal and state taxes.

18 is the minimum age to play Mega Millions or any other lottery game in Michigan. You also need to live in the state to play online.

Ready to play Mega Millions and have your shot at the record-high jackpot? .

Sidelines Group provides MLive with original sports betting, lottery and casino content including odds, analysis, predictions and reviews to educate bettors. Please bet responsibly.

If you have a gambling problem and are located in Michigan, call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-270-7117 or you can visit the Michigan Gaming Control Board’s website at https://www.michigan.gov/mgcb.