Mega Millions Jackpot Soars To An Estimated $1 Billion

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — One of the biggest lottery jackpots in U.S. history is up for grabs tonight.

Friday night's Mega Millions jackpot has grown to an estimated $1 billion, making it the third-largest U.S. lottery prize of all time. No tickets matching all six numbers were sold for 36 consecutive drawings, the game's longest streak without a jackpot winner in its history.

However, a ticket sold in Artesia matched five numbers in Tuesday night's Mega Millions drawing. That ticket is worth $1.4 million.

Just two other jackpots have been bigger – on Jan. 13, 2016, when the Powerball jackpot was worth $1.586 billion, and the Mega Millions jackpot worth $1.537 billion on Oct. 23, 2018.

The odds of matching all five numbers and the Mega number are 1 in 302,575,350, according to the California Lottery. A person's chance of winning a prize is just 1 in 24.

And one USC mathematics professor cautions that buying tickets at a so-called "lucky retailer" doesn't increase anyone's chance of winning.

"The chance that a given place will sell a winning lottery ticket is just related to how many tickets they sell," Professor Ken Alexander said.

Players have until 7:45 p.m. to buy a ticket before the 8 p.m. drawing.

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)

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