Current:Home > StocksThe Mega Millions jackpot is $800 million. In what states can the winner remain anonymous. -TrueNorth Finance Path
The Mega Millions jackpot is $800 million. In what states can the winner remain anonymous.
View
Date:2025-04-13 01:25:08
The Mega Millions jackpot soared to a colossal $800 million on Tuesday, enticing players to get in on the action.
Laws in some states allow for national lottery winners to collect the prize anonymously. If the third Mega Millions winner of the year is in one of those states come Tuesday, we may never know who they are.
Tuesday's jackpot clears all prize-size requirements in states that have them. Arkansas is the only state that grants anonymity for winners on a temporary basis, with the identities of winners in the state shielded for three years.
The last winner was in June, when someone in Illinois took advantage of the state's anonymity laws to claim the $552 million prize.
Here are the places where winners can anonymously claim lottery prizes, and the requirements for them.
Feeling Lucky? Explore the Latest Lottery News & Results
Where Mega Millions winners can claim anonymously
- Arizona: Prize must be over $100,000
- Arkansas: Prize must be over $500,000 and a winner is only anonymous for three years
- Delaware: Any prize
- Georgia: Prize must be over $250,000
- Illinois: Prize must be over $250,000
- Kansas: Any prize
- Maryland: Any prize
- Michigan: Prize must be over $10,000 in state-run games only
- Minnesota: Prize must be over $10,000
- Mississippi: Any prize
- Missouri: Any prize
- Montana: Any prize
- New Jersey: Any prize
- North Dakota: Any prize
- South Carolina: Any prize
- Texas: Prize must be over $1 million
- Virginia: Prize must be greater than $10 million
- West Virginia: Prize must be over $1 million
- Wyoming: Any prize
What is the largest Mega Millions jackpot ever?
If the right six numbers are pulled Tuesday night, the jackpot as it stands would not crack the top five largest prizes of all time. The top five are:
- $1.602 billion from one winning ticket in Florida in August 2023
- $1.537 billion from one winning ticket in October 2018 in South Carolina
- $1.35 billion from one winning ticket in January 2023 in Maine
- $1.34 billion from one winning ticket in July 2022 in Illinois
- $1.12 billion from one winning ticket in March 2024 in New Jersey
What are the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot?
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are long. Players have a one in 302,575,350 shot at winning the grand prize, a one in 12,607,306 shot at winning the $1 million prize and a one in 24 chance of winning any prize.
How to play Mega Millions
Tickets to Mega Millions cost $2 per play.
There are nine total ways to win a prize, from the jackpot to $2.
To play, pick five numbers from 1 to 70 and one Mega Ball number from 1 to 25. You can choose Easy Pick or Quick Pick to have the terminal randomly pick numbers for you. You win the jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in the drawing.
What is the Megaplier?
Most states offer the Megaplier feature, which increases non-jackpot prizes by two, three, four and five times.
It costs an additional $1 per play. Before each regular Mega Millions drawing, the Megaplier is drawn. From a pool of 15 balls, five are marked with "2X," three with "4X" and one with "5X."
Where can you buy lottery tickets?
Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets.
You can also order tickets online through Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network, in these U.S. states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Texas, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. The Jackpocket app allows you to pick your lottery game and numbers, place your order, see your ticket and collect your winnings all using your phone or home computer.
Jackpocket is the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services. Must be 18+, 21+ in AZ and 19+ in NE. Not affiliated with any State Lottery. Gambling Problem? Call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY); 1-800-327-5050 (MA); 1-877-MYLIMIT (OR); 1-800-GAMBLER (all others). Visit jackpocket.com/tos for full terms and conditions.
veryGood! (5547)
Related
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- Finneas says working with sister Billie Eilish requires total vulnerability
- Death toll rises to 13 in a coal mine accident in central China
- Inside Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor's Private Romance
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Louisiana woman grew a cabbage the size of a small child, setting record for massive produce
- What we know so far about Kalen DeBoer's deal with Alabama
- The ruling-party candidate strongly opposed by China wins Taiwan’s presidential election
- Bodycam footage shows high
- Death toll rises to 13 in a coal mine accident in central China
Ranking
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Convicted former Russian mayor cuts jail time short by agreeing to fight in Ukraine
- SAG Awards nominations for 2024 announced: See the full list of nominees
- In Ecuador, the global reach of Mexico’s warring drug cartels fuels a national crisis
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- Maldives leader says his country’s small size isn’t a license to bully in apparent swipe at India
- Deion Sanders wants to hire Warren Sapp at Colorado, but Sapp's history raises concerns
- 'All of Us Strangers' is a cathartic 'love letter' to queer people and their parents
Recommendation
Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
Oklahoma City-area hit by 4.1-magnitude earthquake Saturday, one of several in Oklahoma
Prada reconnects with the seasons for its 2024-25 fall-winter menswear collection
John Kerry to step down after 3 years as Biden's top climate diplomat
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
A Texas woman was driven off her land by a racist mob in 1939. More than eight decades later, she owns it again.
From Best Buy to sex videos, a now-fired university chancellor shares the backstory
The True Story Behind Apple TV+'s Black Bird