(Gray News) - Mega Millions is offering its highest jackpot of the year in Friday night’s drawing.
The grand prize has grown to an estimated $444 million. As is the case every Friday and Tuesday, numbers will be drawn at 11 p.m. ET in Atlanta.
Only 10 times has a Mega Millions’ jackpot surpassed the $400 million mark. Four of them have come within the last calendar year.
The year with a $437 million winner. Last October, someone won the record-setting 1.537 billion prize. And in July 2018, a $543 million jackpot was claimed.
A jackpot winner must match all five numbers on the white balls, numbered 1 â€" 70, and the number on the gold Mega Ball, numbered 1 â€" 25.
Statistically, you only have a one in 302,575,350 chance of doing this.
If Mega Millions’ odds are too lofty, the Powerball’s odds are one in 292,201,338. Its $350 million jackpot is up for grabs Saturday night.
If Friday is your lucky day, it’s time to make an important decision: Cash or annuity.
If you take the cash, you will receive a one-time lump sum payment equal to the value of the prize pool. In this case, that’s an estimated $281.1 million.
The annuity option will get you the entire value of the jackpot broken down into small payments over 30 years. Each payment will be 5% larger than the last, in order to combat inflation.
Whichever option you choose, taxes will apply.
Even if you don’t hit it big, there are still prizes of considerable amounts of cash to be won by matching fewer of the numbers.
Tuesday night’s drawing produced five 1 million-dollar prize winners by matching five white balls. Two of them won $2 million by purchasing the optional Megaplier.
Twenty-two people won at least $10,000 by matching four white balls and the Mega Ball.
Nobody has won the grand prize since Hira Singh took home $50 million in the March 12 drawing.
If nobody wins it Friday, the jackpot will likely become the seventh highest in Mega Millions history. That honor is currently held by the $451 million prize won in January 2018.
When the top prize is finally won, the cash pool will reset at $40 million.
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