Mind-Blowing Mega Millions Stats

There are some eye-opening Mega Millions stats you might find interesting. No one won the last Mega Millions on August 1, 2023. It’s currently at $1.25 Billion, yet the winner may only take home $625.3 Million. It’s tied for the fourth-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history. If no one wins, it’s estimated to reach $1.45 Billion! Check out more shocking Mega Millions statistics.

Mega Millions Winners

Although no one won the big jackpot, the August 1st game had 4.9 million winning tickets- seven tickets won $1 million (one worth $4 million due to the multiplier.)^[18] The Mega Millions winning numbers can be found here. So check your ticket to see if you won!

Shocking Mega Millions Stats

Did You Know?

Friday the 13th is the luckiest day for Mega Millions winners. The second largest Mega Millions jackpot ($1.348 billion) was won on Friday the 13th. In fact, seven total wins crowned the lucky day. Including four Michigan jackpots were won on the day.^[4]

The very first Mega Millions drawing on May 17, 2002, resulted in a $28 million winning ticket in Illinois!^[4]

There have been 210 jackpots won by 236 individual tickets (21 jackpots have been shared by two or more winning tickets.)^[4]

Mega Millions once held the Guinness World Record for the highest individual jackpot winner until Powerball eclipsed it with a $2.04 billion single-ticket winner on November 7, 2022.^[5]

How Does $1.25 Billion Reduce to $625.3 Million?

For example, a lucky winner in California can receive a $1.05 billion annuity or a lump sum payment of $625.3 million.

An annuity spreads the payments over 30 years, increasing by five percent yearly.

For example, if the winner chose an annuity, they would receive $18.8 million upfront. After Uncle Sam extracts $6.9 million in federal taxes, they would be left with $11.89 million in the first year in the state of California.^[20]

By the 29th year (or 30th payment), the winner would receive $77.4 million gross, taxed $28.6 million, netting $48.8 million.^[20] That averages $26.2 million per year in net payments.^[19]

The winner receives 52% of the advertised winnings.^[8]

Uncle Sam takes 24% federal taxes off the top. Plus, winners are subject to additional federal taxes (37% final rate.)^[3]

Taxes, Taxes & More Taxes

Although Washington D.C. has the highest tax rate (10.75%), New York City and Yorkers residents pay the highest tax rates on lottery winnings. New Yorkers are subject to an 8.82% state tax plus an additional 10.9% final rate. NYC residents receive an additional 3.876% and Yonkers residents 1.477%.^[3]

Nine states have no state taxes on lottery winnings: California, Florida, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.^[3]

Five states deem the lottery illegal; Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah.

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Mega Millions Odds

The chance of winning the Mega Millions jackpot is 1 in 302.5 million.^[9] You are more like to have these happen to you than winning the Mega Millions:^[10]

1 in 164,968 chances of being struck by lightning.

1 in 200,000 chances of having conjoined twins.

1 in 11.5 million chances of being attacked by a shark.

Americans spend more than $70 billion on the lottery each year.

60-70% is spent on instant scratch, and the rest on big games like Powerball and Mega Millions.

On the brighter side, you have a 1 in 24 chance of winning any prize. But hefty odds of winning $1 million, which is 1 in 12.6 million.^[9]

Most Winning Mega Millions States

Ever wonder why your state rarely wins the Mega Millions? Maybe you need to move to these top 10 winning Mega Millions states:^[7]

New York has 37 winners.
California has 32 winners.
New Jersey has 22 winners.
Ohio has 20 winners.
Georgia has 17 winners.
Michigan has 17 winners.
Texas has 13 winners.
Illinois has 12 winners.
Maryland has 11 winners.
Virginia has 9 winners.

The largest population states, New York and California, have won the most Mega Millions thus far.^[7]

Most Mega Millions Winnings

The August 4th Mega Millions was the fourth-largest jackpot in the game’s history.^[18]

Top 10 Mega Millions Jackpots

$1.537 Billion 10/23/2018 South Carolina
$1.348 Billion 1/13/2023 Maine
$1.337 Billion 7/29/2022 Illinois
$1.25 Billion (est) 8/4/2023 ???
$1.05 Billion 1/22/2021 Michigan
$656 Million 3/30/2012 Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
$648 Million 12/17/2013 California, Georgia
$543 Million 7/24/2018 California
$536 Million 7/8/2016 Indiana
$533 Million 3/30/2018 New Jersey

Jackpot Buying Power

If you hit the jackpot, you could afford these big-ticket items:^[11]

You could buy an NHL team or English soccer team for the hefty price tag of $500 million.

You can buy a few spaceships from Elon Musk. A Space X Falcon costs $150 million.

At $170 million, you could buy a few Amazing Spiderman rollercoasters.

References

If you use these Mega Millions statistics, please be kind and give us the professional courtesy of credit: Mega Millions Stats by Celebrity Myxer https://alexusrenee.com/mega-millions-stats/

Photo credit: Mega Millions

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Sir Anthony

About the Author

Sir Anthony is the Managing Director and Chief Editor of Celebrity Myxer. He has nearly two decades of experience as a journalist and is an expert content writer.