Excitement over the third highest prize in the game’s history fueled sales that pushed it from $810 million on Monday to $830 million. The cash payout is now nearly $488 million.
The record Mega Millions jackpot is $1.537 billion, which was won on Oct. 23, 2018, in South Carolina.
Mega Millions has been played in Ohio since May 2002 and includes 45 member states plus the District of Columbia and U.S. Virgin Islands.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 300 million.
“The odds of winning are the same in Ohio as they are in any other state regardless of how many people are playing or how big the jackpot is. Ohio has had 20 Mega Millions jackpot winners and 46 second-tier $1 million winners since joining the game,” Danielle Frizzi-Babb, communications director for the Ohio Lottery, said last week.
Top Mega Millions jackpots to date:
| Jackpot | Date won |
|---|---|
| $1.537 billion | 10/23/2018 |
| $1.050 billion | 1/22/2021 |
| $830 million | ? |
| $656 million | 3/30/2012 |
| $656 million | 2/17/2013 |
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