In a few hours, America may have its next near-billionaire courtesy of the July 28 Mega Millions jackpot of $940 million. The lottery drawing in which the winner could opt for the $472.5 million one-time payment comes 10 days after a California ticket buyer won the $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot.
Tonight’s drawing and the July 19 jackpot are part of a trend of huge prizes. That July 19 total was the fourth billion-dollar lottery drawing in the past year. This one may become the fifth.
However, the philosophy behind offering large jackpots may not currently concern Mega Millions ticket buyers.
Some were writing out the figures longhand to enjoy how they looked:
- $940,000,000
- Nine-hundred-and-forty-and-six-zeroes
- $60,000,000 less than $1 billion
Others were looking up trivia:
- $1 billion in $1 bills would weigh 10 tons, according to ABC7 News
- 10 draft horses, like Clydesdales, weigh $1 billion in $1 bills
- $940 million would buy a little more than 134 Super Bowl 2023 commercials, at $7 million for a 30-second spot
Still more were eliminating the competition for the Mega Millions jackpot:
I have the winning Mega Millions ticket. No need to waste your time/money buying any for yourselves.
💜😘✨💫— Prudent Democrat (@DemocratPrudent) July 28, 2023
Finally, thousands were using the Mega Millions Generator page on Bonus this week to help them pick their lottery ticket numbers.
Mega Millions Jackpot in Context
The jackpot ticker on the Mega Millions home page today reads $940 million.
It’s not the biggest prize, but it’s up there.
What lottery winnings outranked this Mega Millions jackpot?
Here are a few.
Previous Mega Millions billions:
- $1.537 billion – 10/23/2018
- $1.348 billion – 1/13/2023
- $1.337 billion – 7/29/2022
- $1.050 billion – 1/22/2021
Powerball totals that outranked this Mega Millions jackpot:
- $2.04 billion – Nov. 7, 2022
- $1.586 billion – Jan. 13, 2016
- $1.08 billion – July 19, 2023
Coincidentally, the three billion-dollar-plus Powerball prizes all included winning tickets purchased in California. Players in Florida and Tennessee also bought tickets for the nearly $1.6 billion jackpot won in 2016.
As Rick VanderKnyff pointed out in his NerdWallet article on July 21, winners in the Golden State could spend $1 billion in their backyards – just by funding one blockbuster movie.
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