Saturday’s Mega Millions drawing saw no winners, pushing the jackpot up to an incredible $1.1 billion. The six numbers for the drawing were 3, 20, 46, 59, 63 and the Mega Ball number 13. Tickets that matched four white balls plus the gold ball have odds of one in 931,001, while those that match four white balls without the gold ball have odds of one in 38,792.
Five tickets in Friday’s drawing matched all five white balls in the Mega Millions but didn’t match the gold ball number, which still earned a second-place $1 million prize. Two tickets were sold in New York, with three others coming from Florida, Maryland and New Jersey. The winner of the jackpot has the option to take the money either as an annuity of 30 payments over 29 years or as a lump sum. The lump sum amount is $568.7 million before taxes, but after taxes, the figure is significantly lower, with a mandatory 24% federal tax withholding and a federal marginal rate as high as 37%.
The odds of winning the full jackpot are one in 302.5 million, according to the Mega Millions. This makes it the fifth-largest jackpot of all time, although a winner would walk away with far less after taxes. The next drawing is on Tuesday, at which point the winner of the $1.1 billion jackpot will be determined. Depending on taxes, the winner could walk away with less than half of the total amount.