The Mega Millions jackpot just hit $1.35 billion and no winner here's how to play
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- No one won the last Mega Millions drawing, sending its jackpot soaring to $1.35 billion.
- It's the second-largest prize in Mega Millions history. The next drawing is Friday, January 13.
- Tickets cost $2 each, and players choose a total of six numbers for a chance at the jackpot and lesser prizes.
The Mega Millions jackpot is estimated at $1.35 billion, the second-highest Mega Millions top prize ever recorded.
The next drawing for the jackpot is scheduled for Friday, January 13, according to the Mega Millions website.
Tickets cost $2, and players choose five numbers between one and 70 along with a bonus number between one and 25. Matching all six numbers leads to winning the $1.35 billion jackpot, and matching some combinations of the numbers pays out smaller prizes from a few dollars to $1,000,000.
The probability of winning the top prize by perfectly matching all six numbers is a staggering 1 in 302,575,350, according to the Mega Millions site. Given that the odds are so heavily against you, it's likely to be a low return on your investment in a ticket.
If you do choose to play and, against all odds, win the $1.35 billion, there are a few key things to do immediately: keep quiet, hire a lawyer along with a financial planner, and consider taking the annuity rather than the lump sum payment.
Beyond that, winning the lottery is often not as glamorous as it may seem, as many winners end up struggling to find meaning, get taken advantage of by others, and even end up broke. Still, some research suggests that lottery winners do tend to end up happier than others.
Jackpots in Mega Millions and the similar Powerball lottery have been steadily increasing over the last few years as a result of rules changes that make winning the jackpot far less likely, meaning each drawing has a higher chance of having no winners and rolling over.
Despite the poor odds, lotteries remain very popular among Americans, with the amount spent on lottery tickets each year varying widely from state to state.
One approach to guaranteeing a lottery win is to buy enough tickets to enter every single possible combination of numbers. While the astronomical number of possible Mega Millions combinations would make that nearly impossible for Friday's drawing, a Romanian-born mathematician pulled it off, winning 14 separate lotteries in the 1980s and 90s.
If you do decide to play in Tuesday's drawing, good luck!
Read more of our Mega Millions coverage:
- No one has won the Mega Millions jackpot and it's ballooned to $1.6 billion — but if you do the math, that's not surprising at all
- The Mega Millions jackpot is $1.6 billion. We did the math to see if you should buy a ticket.
- The record-high Mega Millions jackpot is worth $1.6 billion — here are 3 things you should do if you win
- Buying enough Mega Millions tickets to cover every possible combination sounds like a surefire way to win — but there are 3 major problems with that plan
Andy Kiersz Quantitative Editor Andy is a quantitative editor at Business Insider. He studied mathematics at the University of Chicago and Purdue University. Read more Read less 
Katie Balevic Reporter Katie Balevic is a Reporter on the Trending News team. Her coverage at Business Insider focuses on breaking news, politics, and systemic inequality. Before joining Insider, Katie worked as a freelancer for The US Sun and Austonia. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied journalism, government, and Russian language. You can reach her at kbalevic@businessinsider.com or on Twitter @KatieBalevic. Please note that harassment or spam will be deleted and, if necessary, reported. Read more Read lessncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyuscaaZKahnKG2sLrSZqGam5ulvLV5kGaZoqScnryveceormasn2K9ra3YZmlpaWhifnE%3D