Mega Millions and Powerball. They have the biggest JACKPOTS ever and they are in every damn store, and they have changed hundreds of peoples lives.
Powerball
Powerball, started in 1992, is arguably one of the most popular lotteries, if not in the US, then in the world. One of them is Powerball, which is a lottery run by the Multi-State Lottery Association in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
The game involves selecting five numbers from a pool of 69 and one Powerball number from a separate pool of 26. And if anyone has the 6 numbers they win the jackpot. The chances of winning all that money are very slim, but it is so much money that it could change peoples lives, therefore it becomes very tempting.
They draw the Powerball every Wed and Sat. It starts with at least 20 million and if no one wins it rolls over to hundreds of millions and even billions if no one gets the six numbers. The largest Powerball jackpot in history reached $1.586 billion in January 2016, which is currently the world record for the largest lottery jackpot ever awarded on a single ticket.
Mega Millions
The other BIG national lottery in the US is MEGA Millions which is played in 45 states plus the district of columbia and the US Virgin islands it began in 1996 as The Big Game and changed it's name in 2002 to MEGA Millions.
Mega millions is a lottery, where the player picks five numbers from 1 to 70, and one mega ball number from 1 to 25, and the jackpot goes to the one who matches all 6 numbers. Draws occur on Tuesdays and Fridays. Mega Millions starts at 20 million at least and if no one wins that pot then it rolls over to the next drawing.
The biggest Mega Millions jackpot, and the second-largest lottery jackpot in history, was a staggering $1.537 billion won in October 2018. This gigantic prize went to one person in South Carolina, who, by the way, wanted to stay anonymous.
The appeal of Powerball and Mega Millions
Powerball and Mega Millions are so tempting, they are in all of the states and the jackpots are so huge and the hype about them is unreal. The odds are astronomical, but the opportunity to win hundreds of millions of dollars for a few dollars still baffles millions.
Not to mention the fact that aside from the game excitement factor alone, powerball and mega millions generate tens of millions of dollars in state revenue. A big part of every ticket sold goes to some sort of public funding whether its education, infrastructure, or some other state supported project.
Multistate collaboration
For example powerball, mega millions, interjurisdictional collaboration at its finest. And they're in almost every state, and every state that does play, plays under the same rules and regulations, which are set by the Multi-State Lottery Association for Powerball, and the Mega Millions consortium for Mega Millions. That is why all the states have the same games because they all combine all of the money for those huge jackpots that the lotteries are famous for.
Prize tiers
What state is most likely to win the lottery
Jackpot winners and anonymity
Sometimes the winners of the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots can choose to be anonymous, it depends on the state that the ticket was bought in. In some states they have that law where the winner has to release their name so there is no cheating but in other states they don't have to release their name so they can keep their privacy. That's a decision that changes the winners life, actually not even just their life, their security, and everything.
Granted there are hundreds of lotteries in the United States, but Powerball and Mega Millions, the granddaddies of them all, are the most popular and widely available, and they offer the biggest jackpots in history. As with all gambling though, one must play responsibly, but as the hundreds of winners would say, sometimes dreams do come true.