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US lottery jackpot tops $1 billion, fourth highest ever

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="A customer waits in line to purchase Mega Millions multi-state lottery tickets at a gas station near the Alabama state border in Tallapoosa, Georgia, January 12, 2021. Erik S. Lesser, EPA-EFE/file" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/overseas/07/27/20220727-dollar.jpg"/><figcaption>A customer waits in line to purchase Mega Millions multi-state lottery tickets at a gas station near the Alabama state border in Tallapoosa, Georgia, January 12, 2021. <em>Erik S. Lesser, EPA-EFE/file</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>The jackpot for the upcoming drawing of the Mega Millions lottery has ballooned to more than $1 billion, the fourth highest prize ever, its US organizer announced Wednesday.</p><p>The Mega Millions grand prize has been steadily growing, along with players&#x27; dreams of fortune, for over three months, with no one correctly guessing the six magic numbers in 29 previous drawings.</p><p>Friday&#x27;s estimated jackpot sits at just above $1 billion, Mega Millions announced in a press release.</p><p>That represents an increase of nearly $200 million over Tuesday&#x27;s top prize, which attracted so many players that the Mega Millions website was down for over two hours, the group said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/06/21/filipino-canadian-wins-60-m-lottery-prize-manitobas-biggest">Filipino-Canadian wins $60-M lottery prize, Manitoba’s biggest</a></li></ul><p>Todd Graves, the founder and CEO of fast-food chicken chain Raising Cane&#x27;s, announced on Twitter that he had bought 50,000 tickets for the Tuesday drawing and planned to share any prize money with his 50,000 employees.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/classified-odd/09/07/21/lalaking-dumukot-sa-lottery-ticket-ng-kustomer-arestado">Lalaking dinukot ang winning lottery ticket ng customer sa Italy, tiklo </a></li></ul><p>Since none of those tickets hit the jackpot, the company plans to again shell out $100,000 for the next drawing, co-CEO A.J. Kumaran told CNN on Wednesday.</p><p>The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are one in 303 million – much higher than the one-in-a-million chance of being struck by lightning, according to US government data.</p><p>Friday&#x27;s total is about half a billion dollars less than the world record, set in January 2016 by America&#x27;s other national lotto, the Powerball, though that sum was split among three winners.</p><p>The second-highest prize ever – and the highest won by a single person – was in an October 2018 Mega Millions drawing for $1.5 billion.</p><p>The $1-billion figure for Friday&#x27;s drawing represents the total amount a winner would be entitled to if they accepted the prize split up over a 30-year annuity.</p><p>If the lucky person decided instead to take the winnings as a one-time cash payment, the total amount would decrease to $602.5 million, Mega Millions estimates.</p><p>But don&#x27;t forget the taxes.</p><p>After federal taxes, the remaining total for Friday&#x27;s all-cash jackpot would be $379.6 million, according to lottery tracking site usamega.com.</p><p>Most US states then impose their own taxes on lottery winnings, although populous California and Florida, among others, do not.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/09/22/lone-bettor-wagi-ng-higit-p400-m-sa-grand-lotto-655">May nanalo na!: Winning combination July 9, 2022 Grand Lotto 6/55 draw</a></li></ul><p>Regardless of locale, winners are generally advised to immediately seek assistance from financial advisors, even before claiming the prize money.</p><p>Financial planner Robert Pagliarini also recommends that big winners &quot;step outside the craziness of the situation for a moment.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Make a list of Who and What you love about your life that you don&#x27;t want to change,&quot; he advised in a blog post.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1419050" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The Mega Millions grand prize has been growing for over three months, with no one correctly guessing the six magic numbers in 29 previous drawings.