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The Mega Millions drawing for Tuesday, March 20, 2018, was for an estimated $377 million. This may not be the largest jackpot in Mega Millions’ history, but it’s certainly substantial. Many people were crossing their fingers that no one will win, because they’re hoping to see the jackpot grow even more. Tonight’s is the ninth-largest in Mega Millions’ history, and it looks like no one won the Mega Millions jackpot for tonight, March 20. It can take Mega Millions up to two hours to process all the tickets and announce if someone won and where the winning ticket was purchased, and today it took nearly that long to show that no one won. The Mega Millions website has updated to show that no one won the jackpot, and the next Mega Millions on Friday, March 23 will be worth an estimated $421 million.
When someone eventually does win the jackpot on a future drawing, it will still take a while before we find out their identity (if ever.) Some states allow a few weeks to claim a prize and other states allow winners to take up to a year to claim them. Beyond that, some states even allow winners to stay anonymous. And as for the ones who don’t — well, those rules might be changing soon, thanks to a recent Powerball jackpot winner in New Hampshire. Although New Hampshire rules allow people who win games like Powerball to take up to a one year from the draw date to claim their prize, New Hampshire law also requires the winner’s name, town, and amount won be available for public information. The winner was able to file a lawsuit and stay anonymous while claiming the winnings through an anonymous trust even though they had originally signed their winning ticket with their name.
Tonight’s winning Mega Millions numbers are 14 – 38 – 51- 64- 70 and a Mega Ball of 9 (with a Megaplier of 3x). The odds of winning Mega Millions are 1 in 302.6 million, which are actually less than the odds of winning the Powerball, which is 1 in 292.2 million. Mega Millions recently changed its rules in October 2017, making the odds of winning the big jackpot lower (they used to be 1 in 258.9 million.) On October 28, 2017, Mega Millions increased the cost of buying a ticket from $1 to $2. They increased the starting jackpot to $40 million, and changed the play structure. Instead of picking five numbers out of 75 and 1 number out of 15, players now pick five numbers out of 70 and and 1 out of 25.
In order to win tonight’s jackpot, you’d need to match all five white balls and the yellow Mega ball. If you match all five white numbers only, you’ll win $1 million (and more if you’re using a Mega plier option.) If you match 4 white and the yellow, you’ll win $10,000. If you match 4 white only, you’ll win $500. If you match 3 white and 1 yellow, you’ll win $200. If you match 3 white only or if you match 2 white and 1 yellow, you’ll win $10. If you match one white and one yellow, you’ll win $4. If you only match the yellow, you’ll win $2. But if you only match one white ball, you won’t win anything.