After no one won Friday night's Mega Millions drawing, that bumped Tuesday night's drawing prize up to $512 million. That is one of the largest prizes the lottery company has ever given away, and Tuesday's drawing marks the fifth time the jackpot has gone over $500 million.
If you decide to take the cash and run, you'd walk away with $303 million in lump sum winnings, barring no one else also hits the winning numbers. The biggest Mega Millions jackpot weighed in at $656 million in March 2012 and was shared by winners in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.
So what are your odd of winning a Mega Millions jackpot? 1 in 258 million. Here's a list of 10 things with better odds:
- Struck by lightning, while drowning (1 in 183 million)
- Killed by an asteroid strike (1 in 700,000)
- Have an IQ of 190 or greater (1 in 107 million)
- Attacked by a shark (1 in 11.5 million)
- Elected President of the U.S. (1 in 10 million)
- Getting struck by lightning (1 in 164,968)
- Being drafted by an NBA team (1 in 6.8 million)
- Becoming a movie star (1 in 1.5 million)
- Dating a supermodel (1 in 88,000)
- Being killed by a vending machine (1 in 112 million)