Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing is worth $1.55 billion – NBC Chicago

Lottery players will have another shot Tuesday night at a massive Mega Millions prize that ranks as the biggest jackpot in the game’s history and the third-largest prize ever in the U.S.

The estimated $1.55 billion prize has been gradually building for months thanks to 31 straight drawings without a jackpot winner. The last time someone won the game’s top prize was April 18.

Each drawing without a winner pushes the prize closer to the record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot that someone in California won last year.

The $1.55 billion payout would go to a sole winner who opts for the annuity option, doled out over 30 years. But people usually prefer a lump sum option, which for Tuesday’s jackpot would be an estimated $757.2 million.

Still, a big slice of those winnings would go toward federal taxes, and many states also tax lottery payouts.

And if it seems like lottery jackpots topping $1 billion are more common nowadays, it’s because they are. Since 2021, five prizes have topped $1 billion, not counting the latest game. The increased frequency is due to higher interest rates and worsened odds for winning a jackpot, which for Mega Millions is 1 in 302.6 million.

The higher the interest rate, the larger the annuity can grow over three decades. The U.S. is in the midst of a remarkable run of interest rate increases, with the Federal Reserve raising a key rate 11 times in 17 months, and that higher rate enables a roughly $500 million lump sum prize to be advertised as a jackpot of about twice that size.

The drawing is set for 11 p.m. EST but it usually takes a couple hours before it’s clear if there is a winner

Mega Millions is played Tuesday and Saturdays in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.