Another record-breaking lottery jackpot is up for grabs Friday. Here's why the jackpots have grown so large.
An estimated $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot is up for grabs on Friday – marking the latest in a chain of record-breaking lottery prizes that the U.S. has seen in recent years.
If someone beats the 1 in 302.6 million odds and wins Friday's jackpot, it would be the second-largest prize that Mega Millions has ever seen and fourth-highest across U.S. lottery history.
Maybe you're thinking that you heard about another recording breaking jackpot in the not-so-far past, and you're not wrong. In late July, a $1.337 billion Mega Millions jackpot was won in Illinois – and, just last November, a $2.04 billion Powerball prize was won in California, marking the largest lottery jackpot ever seen in the U.S.
And if someone wins the estimated $1.35 billion on Friday, six of the top 10 U.S. lottery prizes will have been won since 2021 alone.
Mega Millions: Jackpot climbs to $1.35 billion after no Tuesday winner
What should I do if I win the lottery?: Here's what you need to know.
Can economics explain the boost in these extraordinaril y large jackpots? Is it a result of more people buying lottery tickets? Or changes to the rules of lottery games? Here's what experts have to say:
Why are lottery prizes getting bigger?
One reason we're seeing bigger lottery prizes today is because of changes in how games like Mega Millions are played made a few years ago, experts say.
"These larger jackpots are by design," Jadrian Wooten, collegiate associate professor of economics at Virginia Tech, said in an email to USA TODAY.
Mega Millions was notably redesigned in 2017. Ticket prices were raised from $1 to $2 and the chances of winning the jackpot were decreased with more numbers drawn – resulting in bigger jackpots, Wooten explains.
With higher ticket prices, "some people may have played less, but others may have jumped in since the introduction of more 'smaller' prizes as well," Wooten said, pointing to the jackpot-probability change.
Topic: I don't feel the need to participate but those that do, here's another record (Read 139 times)