Mega Millions

Submission 5,060

Overview

Mega Millions is a lottery game which is played in most of the continental United States. It is drawn every Tuesday and Friday evening, with the grand prize increasing if there is no jackpot winner. Players select or have a computer randomly select five numbers between 1 and 70 and one number between 1 and 25. To win the grand prize, a player must match all six numbers to the drawn numbers in order. Occasionally, lengthy periods without a grand prize winner will result in massive jackpots. On such occasions, the game will draw national attention and lead to online jokes about winning the prize money.

Background

Mega Millions was initially known as The Big Game when it was conceived in 1996 by Rebecca Paul and Penelope W. Kyle.^[1] It was renamed The Big Game Mega Millions in 2002. As of 2018, the game is available in 44 states: Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, and Mississippi are the only states where it is not available. The odds of winning the jackpot are roughly 1/259 million.

Developments

Notable Winners

The largest winnings have been $474 million (cash payout) and $656 million (annuity payout), won March 30th, 2012. The second-largest victory, won in December of 2013, paid out $347.7 million (cash) and $648 million (annuity).

2018

In October of 2018, the Mega Millions jackpot prize reached a record high of $1.6 billion. This led to online jokes about the prize. One popular strand of jokes found people imagining absurd things they would do with the money. User @_KJCRAY joked he would be eating pancakes made by Louis Vuitton, gaining over 220 retweets and 320 likes (shown below, left). User @bookerjames joked he would purchase the Los Angeles Lakers and move them to Mansfield, Ohio, gaining over 280 retweets and 1,900 likes.

Other popular jokes included a post by @woodmuffin that gained over 2,300 retweets and 10,000 likes (shown below, left) and a joke by @thistallawkgirl that gained over 90 retweets and 790 likes (shown below, right). Jokes were covered by Mashable.^[2]

Elsewhere, Facebook group "4chong page that actually posts stuff from halfchan" posted a screenshot of a person spending $3,200 on 1,600 tickets, which in the accompanying post they described as "most of their bank account." The 4chong post gained over 920 likes and reactions (shown below).