The last Mega Millions drawing yielded no winners and Tuesday evening was the next chance lottery players had to win millions. The jackpot was up to $82 million with a cash option of $48.8 million. The drawing was set for 11 p.m. EST in Atlanta, Georgia.
Each person who buys a ticket has a one in 24 chance of winning some prize, whether or not its the jackpot. There are nine ways total for a ticket holder to win a prize. Tickets cost two dollars to buy and an extra dollar for the Megaplier where it's available.
The drawing is scheduled to be broadcast live from WSB-TV. The winning numbers will be added to the Mega Millions website shortly after the drawing Tuesday night but it can also be viewed as it happens.
Watch the Mega Millions drawing live stream from WSB-TV:
Mega Millions is played in 44 states along with Washing D.C. and the United States Virgin Islands. In most of those places tickets have to be purchased in person and most of the time they need to be bought with cash as well. Not all, but most of the states also have the Megaplier option that costs an extra dollar per play. The Megaplier allows non-jackpot winners to multiply their winnings by two, three, four or five times the winning amount.
Tickets can only be bought online in some states by those who are already registered with the lottery. Those playing have to be registered residents of one of the following states to buy online: Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina or North Dakota.
Other rules vary by state as well. Whether or not the jackpot winner can remain anonymous after claiming their prize varies by state as does the amount of time they have to claim their prize after the drawing. What happens to unclaimed jackpot money also varies from state to state.
Cut off time for buying a ticket for the lottery also varies by state so anyone hoping to buy a ticket should be sure to check when the latest they can get one is. It's usually one or two hours before the drawing happens. The drawing happens in EST so those on the West Coast should be aware that the cutoff time will be 7 p.m. PST or even earlier. More details are available from the Mega Millions website and from individual state lottery sites.
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