The most recent Mega Millions lottery draw took place on March 1 and saw an estimated jackpot of $102 million up for grabs, alongside a cash value option of $69.5 million.
The winning numbers were selected at 11 p.m. ET on Tuesday. For the regular white balls, "18", "22", "38", "39" and "50" were drawn. Meanwhile, the all-important yellow Mega Ball was "18".
A 2X Megaplier bonus was also in effect here, giving players a chance to theoretically double their earnings (so long as they paid an extra dollar when buying their winning ticket).
Did Anyone Win the Mega Millions Jackpot on March 1?
The official Mega Millions website has a page that you can visit, where the results for previous draws are all displayed. Here, you can see how many people won in each prize tier and how many of them opted to buy the Megaplier bonus.
When it comes to the lottery for March 1, nobody managed to correctly guess all the white ball numbers and the yellow Mega Ball. As such, the grand prize money went unclaimed and will roll over into the next lottery on Friday, March 4.
Mega Millions Results for March 1
Of course, you can earn money from Mega Millions without bagging the jackpot. There are eight other tiers here, with prizes ranging from $2 to $1 million.
Unfortunately, not a single player matched all five white balls on March 1, meaning that the $1 million prize was also unclaimed.
15 lottery entrants managed to get four white balls and the yellow Mega Ball, however, netting them $10,000 each. From this group, three people elected to use the Megaplier bonus and so doubled their winnings to $20,000.
Meanwhile, 292 players guessed four of the white ball numbers (without the Mega Ball), making them eligible for a $500 prize. 51 people from this group boosted their earnings further using the Megaplier option.
As for the lower-tier prizes, 756 entrants matched three white balls and the Mega Ball, in a combination that is worth $200.
A total of 34,629 people won $10 by either getting three white balls on their own, or a combination of two white balls and the yellow ball.
Finally, 424,882 players won $4 by getting either the Mega Ball on its own or paired with a single white ball.
How To Play Mega Millions
It costs $2 to enter a Mega Millions draw. Tickets are available in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. However, they are not sold in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, or Utah.
If you decide to play, then the first thing you will need to do is pick six lucky numbers. Five of these will be for the regular white balls (and can be anything between 1 and 70), while the other will be for the special Mega Ball (between 1 and 25).
Should you manage to guess all six numbers correctly (according to the lottery's website, the odds of doing this are 1 in 302,575,350) then you will bag the coveted grand prize. As is also the case with the Powerball lottery, the value of this jackpot fluctuates from draw to draw, depending on things like ticket sales and when the last person won it.
Even if you don't get the jackpot, there are still other prizes that you can win, and these can be boosted by the Megaplier bonus. On that note, if you pay an extra $1 when buying your ticket, then you can potentially increase your winnings by double, triple, quadruple or quintuple the original amount.
The effect of this multiplier is randomly decided at the beginning of each draw. For instance, on February 25 it was set at 3X.
More information about the Mega Millions lottery can be found on its official website.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
