Mega Millions could reach highest jackpot


Odds to win the Mega Millions are 1 and 259 million. One is more likely to:

  • Be killed by vending machine — odds: 1 in 112 million.
  • Have identical quadruplets — odds: 1 in 15 million.
  • Become president — odds: 1 in 10 million.
  • Die from bee, hornet or wasp stings — odds: 1 in 6.1 million.
  • Die from being left-handed — odds: 1 in 4.4 million.

Source: Daily Beast

Mega Millions ticket sales today could place tonight’s jackpot above last year’s record $656 million prize, a lottery official said.

No one has won the multi-state drawing since Oct. 22 when Mega Millions made it more difficult to win by increasing the pool of numbers to choose from and lowering the number of Mega Balls to pick.

The odds of winning now are 1 in 259 million. If the trend of non-winning numbers continues, Mega Millions could have the first lottery jackpot over $1 billion before Christmas.

That didn’t stop Jimmy Langston from buying $20 worth of tickets Monday at Bee Gee’s on Bigger Road in Kettering.

“You can’t win if you don’t play. I’m not a regular player, but I couldn’t pass this up,” said Langston, who allows autopick to choose his numbers.

Bee Gee’s sold the most lottery tickets in the Miami Valley last year and the third most tickets in the state. It has consistently processed the most prizes in both numbers and dollars (fifth most in Ohio). During 2012, it cashed more than 106,000 winning tickets worth $1,685,181, following similar results in 2011, a Dayton Daily News examination found earlier this year.

No ticket matched the six numbers needed to win Friday’s $425 million prize and the Mega Millions was raised to $550 million for Tuesday’s drawing — the fourth largest in U.S. history.

Paula Otto, Mega Millions’ lead director, said Sunday that sales were up by as much as 20 percent over weekend numbers and were expected to spike on Tuesday, the day of the drawing.

“I think we’ll be very close to the record, and maybe even surpass it,” Otto said, adding that sales are difficult to predict.

“Lotto players are procrastinators. They tend to buy on the day of the draw,” she said.

Previously, lottery players chose five numbers, ranging from one to 56 to win the Mega Millions. It’s now one to 75, but the sixth, gold ball has fewer numbers from which to choose, as the pool decreased from 46 to 15.

H & L Market on North Gettysburg Avenue in Dayton has paid out the highest per winning ticket during the past three years. The average winning there, while nowhere near the level of a jackpot, was $44.

“We have a lot of regular customers. We get a little more busy when there are large jackpots like this,” said Velma Johnson, officer manager at H&L Market.

Johnson said new customers visit when there are larger jackpots.

Bee Gee’s sold an $8 million jackpot more than a decade ago, but the store’s manager, Michael Sliger, said the store is due.

“With the number of tickets we sell in a week, we’re overdue,” Sliger said.

Sliger said he’s bringing in extra staff for when his store opens at 7:30 a.m. today. He said his ticket counter started getting busier a week and a half ago when there were no winners.

“We’ve already been busy today and it will get a lot busier Tuesday, especially right before the drawing,” Sliger said.

Stores owners said their customers go to some great lengths to pick the correct numbers. Birthdays are the most popular way, but “if it were easy, we’d have a lot more millionaires out there,” Sliger said.

Today’s drawing will be at 11 p.m.

The largest Mega Millions jackpot — $656 million — was won on March 30, 2012. The next-largest prizes were $390 million and $380 million.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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