Lottery Jackpot Jumps To More Than $1 Billion As No One Has Won Since Mid-April

A lottery jackpot in the US has jumped to a little more than a $1 billion as no one has claimed the winning numbers for months.

The Mega Millions has ballooned to become the fourth largest jackpot in US history and you can only imagine how many people will be buying tickets for the next ball drop.

No one has selected the six numbers needed for a victory since April 15.

According to Associated Press, that means there have been 29 lottery results without a clear winner.

The most recent draw was $830 million and, sadly, no one came forward screaming to the high heavens that they had the correct numbers.

Alamy

The prize, however, is split in a variety of options.

If the winner wants to take the cold-hard upfront cash option then the jackpot is a measly $602.5 million, says AP.

But if you want the annuity option, aka the billion dollar prize, then that will be paid out over 30 years.

It's a tough situation: do you want nearly half the money now and risk blowing it all or spend the rest of your life living like a king with a huge income.

Mega Millions says the chance of winning this absurdly large prize is around one in 302.6 million.

The company explained how to play: "Players may pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers - five different numbers from 1 to 70 (the white balls) and one number from 1 to 25 (the gold Mega Ball) - or select Easy Pick/Quick Pick.

"You win the jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in a drawing.

"Until further notice, the starting jackpot will vary based on sales and will be announced before each drawing.

"There are a total of nine ways to win a prize in Mega Millions."

The largest lottery jackpot in history was in 2016 when three couples shared in the $1.586 billion prize.

John and Lisa Robinson in Tennessee, Maureen Smith and David Kaltschmidt in Florida, and Marvin and Mae Acosta in California all had the winner numbers.

Two of the couples decided to take the lump sum, with one stating that 'we’re not guaranteed tomorrow'.

That lump sum ended up being $327.8 million.

If they'd gone with the annuity option, they would have been entitled to roughly $533 million.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Senior Journalist at LADbible. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign. He is in charge of the LADbible Australia editorial content and social presence.

@stewartperrie