Jul 26, 2022 3 min read

The stakes are high. Millions and millions of dollars high.

This evening, six numbers will be drawn, and some guy or gal with all the luck will be as much as $810 million richer than when today began.

Tuesday evening’s Mega Millions Jackpot is the third-largest in the lottery game’s history.

In March 2012, the jackpot reached $656 million, an insurmountable amount of wealth ripe for the winning surpassed six years later, when the lottery jackpot reached a record high.

On October 23, 2018, a single winner from South Carolina hit the jackpot and won $1.537 billion.

The second-largest jackpot hit in January 2021; the lucky winner from Michigan took $1.05 billion to the bank.

The prospect of jingling keys to a new home, purchasing a sports team or spending a lifetime on vacation inspired locals to flock to gas stations and grocery stores Monday, where they picked five numbers plus the Mega Ball in hopes of winning the July 26 Mega Millions.

“My husband and I already divvied it up,” laughed Cynthia Miller, who purchased a Mega Millions ticket at the Washington Giant Eagle Monday afternoon. “My family and my church are going to be the priorities.”

Ewa Swope, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Lottery, said lottery ticket sales across the state have been increasing since April 15, when an individual from Tennessee won the Mega Millions.

“Since then in Pennsylvania, Mega Millions ticket sales have totaled $48.6 million,” Swope said.

At $2 per, that’s about 24.3 million tickets sold.

The odds of actually winning on any given Tuesday or Thursday Mega Millions drawing night are surprisingly good.

According to the Mega Millions website, there’s a 1 in 24 chance you’ll win something, from $2 for matching the gold Mega Ball number to $500 for matching four numbers.

Of course, as the cash prize increases, your odds of winning decrease.

For instance, Mega Millions players have a 1 in 931,001 shot at winning $10,000, which requires matching four numbers plus the Mega Ball.

Miller said she used to strategize her number picks, but it didn’t change her luck.

Dr. James Bush, professor of mathematics at Waynesburg University, said a random pick of numbers has the same chance of winning as a patterned set of numbers.

“That said, a player is better off playing random numbers than a pattern because there is less chance of having to split the jackpot with someone who may have played the same pattern,” he said.

Whether you roll the proverbial dice and play six random numbers or feel particularly lucky gambling with your birthday digits, one thing is certain: If you’re playing tonight’s Mega Millions, you’ve got a 1 in 302,575,350 shot at hitting the lottery.

Which, all things considered, is better than one in a million.