Remember this moment, because it probably won’t last: it’s a US lottery jackpot It is expected to raise more than $1 billionand that’s still a big deal.
Friday’s Mega Millions drawing is worth $1.15 billion, garnering headlines and drawing more people to convenience stores with dreams of private spaces above ground.
He doesn’t seem to care about the nation Top 10 jackpots – not including this one – they’ve already boasted 10-figure payouts. For many of us, something stirs inside when a number pushes a dollar above $999,000,000.
“The underlying question is, what happens when $1 billion becomes routine and people don’t care?” said Jonathan D. Cohen, author of the 2022 book “For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America.”
“There are no easy round numbers after a billion,” Cohen said. “But also, how much money can a person possibly need?”
Meanwhile, Mega Millions ticket prices will increase from $2 to $5 in April. The increase will be one of the changes announced by the officials improve the jackpot probabilitymore often huge prizes and even bigger paychecks.
Here’s a brief history of lotteries and why jackpots are growing:
Cohen points out in his book that lotteries have been around in one form or another for over 4,000 years.
In Rome, emperors and nobles drew at dinner parties and gave out prizes ranging from terracotta vases to enslaved people. From the 1400s, lotteries were used in Europe to finance city defenses and other public works.
Lotteries were common in the American colonies, helping to pay for the revolution against Great Britain. Cohen noted in his book that Thomas Jefferson supported lotteries, and wrote that they were a tax “imposed only on the willing.”
Lotteries began in the 1800s in the US due to concerns about fraud, mismanagement and the effects on poor people. But beginning in the 1960s, states began legislating to help address financial shortfalls without raising taxes.
“Lotteries were seen as a budgetary miracle, an opportunity for states to make revenue appear out of nowhere,” Cohen wrote.
When Mega Millions started in 1996, it was called “The Big Game” and only six states participated. It was meant to compete with Powerball, which at the time had 20 states and the District of Columbia.
The original payout for The Big Game started at $5 million. The value would be almost twice what it is today when inflation is taken into account.
In 2024 dollars, the award could be purchased before taxes A rare copy of the US Constitution or cover by Michael Soroka 9 million dollars contract to play next season for the Washington Nationals
Conversely, the pre-tax winnings from Friday’s Mega Millions prize could, in theory, buy a Major League Baseball team. Nationals would be too expensive. But Forbes recently valued the Miami Marlins at $1 billion.
A better comparison might be Taylor Swift’s tour revenue at the end of 2023. It was his first Eras Tour win. Over $1 billion After selling more than 4 million tickets.
Swift, however, was expected to bring the total Over $2 billion when his tour ended on Dec. 8, according to concert trade publication Pollstar.
Today, Mega Millions and Powerball are its compatriots in the lottery It is sold in 45 statesas well as Washington, DC and the US Virgin Islands. Powerball is also sold in Puerto Rico.
in october He said Mega Millions he hoped that increased ticket revenue and fewer stratospheric odds would lead to more people winning, even though prizes have grown dramatically.
Games with massive payouts tend to be more popular despite the lower odds. Big jackpots attract more media attention, increase ticket sales and bring in new players, Cohen said.
Lottery officials have allowed the odds to be smaller with a larger number to choose from, Cohen said. And this has made it harder to win games, and payouts have become even bigger prizes.
The first million dollar jackpot was in 2016. Cohen said he expects the upward trajectory to continue.
Meanwhile, he cautioned against troubling the troublesome lottery or bankruptcy winner.
This is a well-known example Andrew “Jack” Whittaker Jr. He won the record Powerball jackpot in 2002 after buying a single ticket, but quickly became a victim of scandals, lawsuits and personal setbacks as he suffered constant demands for money, leaving him unable to trust others.
Most winners don’t turn out like him, Cohen said.
“Even if we deny it, we all believe in meritocracy — this belief that if you earned your money through luck, you probably didn’t deserve it,” Cohen said. However, several studies have shown that “lottery winners are happier, healthier and wealthier than the rest of us.”
