Friday the 13th isn’t as "unlucky" as you may think. This Friday, you could join the club of Friday the 13th Mega Millions winners. Game officials say the jackpot has been claimed on Friday the 13th seven times, and this Friday could be No. 8.
Speaking of the number eight, if the jackpot is won this Friday, it would be the eighth-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history. The jackpot is an estimated $670 million spread over 29 years. The winner could choose to take a lump sum of $317.8 million.
Mega Millions requires hitting five white balls and one gold ball to win the jackpot.
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The lottery launched in 1996 with 1-in-52.9-million odds. Drawings then had 50 white balls and 25 gold balls. By 2013, the lottery had 1-in-258-million odds by having 75 white balls and 15 gold balls.
In 2017, Mega Millions actually reduced the number of white balls — a first among multi-state lotteries — to 70, but increased the number of gold balls to 25. This has made Mega Millions the toughest lottery to win with 1-in-302-million odds.
Tickets are $2 each. The game also has prizes ranging from $2 to $2 million, and the odds of winning a smaller prize are about 1 in 24.
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Eighteen states allow winners of large lotteries to stay fully anonymous, shielding winners from the attention claiming such a prize can draw.
