By FREIDA FRISARO (Associated Press)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — If you’re feeling some St. Patrick’s Day magic, you might want to buy a lottery ticket. Mega Millions and Powerball have racked up some massive jackpots after weeks of rollovers.
The Mega Millions jackpot is already estimated at a whopping $875 million for Tuesday night’s drawing after no tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Friday night. And Saturday night’s Powerball jackpot is $600 million.
Just keep in mind that the odds of winning any lottery jackpot are very slim. Mega Millions players have a 1 in 302.6 million chance of taking home the top prize. And it’s not much easier to win a Powerball jackpot with the odds near 1 in 292.2 million.
But the excitement remains.
This is just the sixth time in the nearly 22-year history of the Mega Millions game that the jackpot has been this large — and five of those six jackpots exceeded $1 billion, according to a Mega Millions statement. Those winning tickets were sold in South Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, Maine and Florida.
There was one big winner in Friday nights’ Mega Millions drawing. A ticket in New York matched all five white balls drawn on Friday night, and will win $1 million.
The Mega Millions jackpot has rolled over 28 times since Dec. 8, when two winning tickets were drawn in California, lottery officials said. Mega Millions drawings occur every Tuesday and Friday night.
Mega Millions isn’t the only current multi-million dollar jackpot. Saturday night’s Powerball jackpot is estimated to be $600 million after no one matched all six numbers on Wednesday, officials said.
It was the 32nd rollover for Powerball since Jan. 1, when a ticket in Michigan won a prize worth $842.4 million. Powerball is drawn three times weekly, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Mega Millions tickets are $2 and are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball tickets are also $2 and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.