How You Could Win More Than $1 Billion From The Illinois Lottery

If this feels like deja vu, you're not going crazy. For the second time in a month, a lottery jackpot has topped $1 billion. Instead of it being the Powerball jackpot like it was in mid-July, the Mega Millions jackpot has climbed to an estimated $1.05 billion annuity and the drawing is tonight.

There was no jackpot winner this past Friday making tonight's (this Tuesday's) jackpot tied for the 4th-largest prize in the Mega Millions game, say officials from the Iowa Lottery. It will also be the 7th-biggest lottery jackpot in any U.S. lottery game.

If you live in Illinois or in Iowa, make sure you get yourself a Mega Millions lottery ticket before 10 p.m. tonight. You can't win big if you don't buy a ticket.

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Mega Millions Jackpot Climbs To Over $1 Billion

As we all know, earlier this month Powerball jackpot reached $1.08 billion before it was won on July 19. Someone from California won that jackpot but the Mega Millions has been growing since the jackpot was last won on April 18th.

The estimated Mega Millions jackpot for Tuesday night's drawing is $1.05 billion annuity or $527.9 million if you take the cash option.

Tonight, one person could be walking away with that Mega Millions jackpot prize. The drawing takes place at 10 p.m. CT but if no one gets it tonight, you could have a shot to win it Friday night.

What Numbers Were Most Recently Drawn?

Friday night's winning numbers were: 5-10-28-52-63 and Mega Ball 18. The Megaplier^® number was 5. It's been a very long time since anyone won big from playing Mega Millions with the Illinois Lottery. A lot of people from Iowa have won recently by playing Mega Millions with the Iowa Lottery.

Officials from the Iowa Lottery say two tickets in Iowa were just one number away from having at least a share of the jackpot and won $10,000 each. They matched four of the first five numbers and the Mega Ball.

Odds Of Winning $1 Billion Mega Millions Jackpot

You won't have any chance if you don't buy a Mega Millions lottery ticket. In Illinois, you can actually buy them online on the Illinois Lottery's website. In Iowa, you'll need to stop by a gas station or grocery store that sells Mega Millions lottery tickets to buy one.

Back to the question of your odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot. According to CNBC, the odds of matching the five numbers and Mega Ball perfectly is 1 in 302,575,350. So you're saying there's a chance?

Iowa Lottery officials remind you that you can do Easy Pick or pick your own numbers. Easy Pick is letting the terminal pick your numbers for you. If you pick your own, you're choosing five numbers from a pool of 1 to 70 for the white balls and one number from a separate pool of 25 for the yellow Mega Ball.

Neither option is luckier. The odds of winning are the same for every ticket purchased in the game. Good luck.