{"id":10631,"date":"2026-02-25T13:06:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.thelotter.com\/?p=10631"},"modified":"2026-05-22T17:34:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T17:34:37","slug":"facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelotter.com\/blog\/mega-millions\/facts\/","title":{"rendered":"Mega Millions Trivia and Anecdotes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mega Millions Trivia and Anecdotes<\/h1>\n\n\n
TheLotter<\/a><\/span> \u00bb Mega Millions<\/a><\/span> \u00bb Mega Millions Trivia and Anecdotes<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n

Ever since its launch in 1996 under the name “The Big Game”, the Mega Millions lottery<\/a> has entertained and excited lottery players across the States, as well as all over the world. With its huge jackpot prizes, billions of tickets sold, and countless cash prizes awarded, there’s a bounty of factoids and stories to tell about the Mega Millions game!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mega Millions Fun Facts: the Beginning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tickets for the Big Game lottery went on sale in Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Virginia on 31 August, 1996. The game was renamed as The Big Game Mega Millions in May 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The very first Mega Millions drawing took place on 17 May, 2002, and a jackpot of US$28 million<\/strong> was won by a winning ticket purchased in Illinois. The winning numbers in the draw were 15-18-25-33-47 and the Mega Ball was 30. There was a second jackpot winner just one week later. Two jackpot winners in the first three Mega Millions drawings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mega Millions trademark is owned by the Illinois Lottery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the game\u2019s name change, the yellow ball in the new Mega Millions logo continued to read “The Big Game” until February 2003, after which it was replaced with six stars representing the original members of the consortium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixty-eight draws after the lottery launched, Mega Millions reached a milestone of having sold 1 billion tickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about the\u00a0history of Mega Millions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mega Millions Trivia: the Numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When Mega Millions launched in May 2002, the game was played by picking five numbers from 1 to 52, and an additional Mega Ball number from 1 to 52. Like today, the jackpot was awarded for matching all six winning numbers drawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The odds for winning the Mega Millions jackpot in 2002 were: 1 in 135,145,920<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The odds for winning the Mega Millions jackpot today are: 1 in 290,472,336<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The overall chances of winning any prize in 2002 were: 1 in 43<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The overall chances of winning any prize today are: 1 in 23.07<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winning numbers in the 23 October, 2018, draw awarding a US$1.537 billion<\/strong> jackpot: 5, 28, 62, 65, 70, and Mega Ball 5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winning numbers in the 22 January, 2021, draw awarding a US$1.05 billion<\/strong> jackpot: 4, 26, 42, 50, 60, and Mega Ball 24<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mega Millions Info: the Multiplier<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Megaplier was an optional add-on multiplier feature on a Mega Millions lottery ticket. By including the Megaplier when they purchase their ticket, players could potentially increase their non-jackpot winnings by 2, 3, 4, or 5 times, depending on the Megaplier randomly selected for that draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Megaplier trademark is owned by the Texas Lottery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Mega Million\u2019s revamp in April 2025, the optional Megaplier was replaced by a built-in Multiplier, which increases secondary prizes up to 10X, compared to the Megaplier\u2019s which could only increase up to 5X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more information about the\u00a0Mega Millions Multiplier<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mega Millions Information: the Jackpots<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On 8 August 2023, Mega Millions set a new record after 32 rollovers, breaking its previous record. One lucky ticket purchased by Saltines Holdings LLC from Florida celebrated the Summer of 2023 with a record-sized MEGA jackpot worth US$1.602 billion<\/strong> after matching all the winning numbers in the draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mega Millions awarded its third billion-dollar jackpot in its draw on 29 July 2022. After three and a half months of draws with no jackpot winner, a prize of $1.337 billion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mega Millions nearly set a new world record with a rollover streak that ran between July and October 2018. The lottery\u2019s jackpot passed US$1 billion<\/strong> amidst hopes that it would soon surpass Powerball\u2019s record US$1.586 billion<\/strong> jackpot. But in the end, on 23 October, 2018, after 25 rollovers, a prize of US$1.537 billion<\/strong> was claimed by a single ticket purchased in South Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mega Millions held the world record for four years after it awarded a US$656 million<\/strong> jackpot in March 2012. This massive prize was shared by three winning tickets. One of the tickets was purchased by three colleagues from Maryland\u2019s public education system. Each of these lucky winners, who referred to themselves as the Three Amigos, put in US$20 and together they bought 60 lottery tickets, one of which matched all the winning numbers. The other winners of this record jackpot came from Illinois and Kansas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more Mega Millions trivia, read about the\u00a0Biggest Mega Millions Jackpots Ever<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Anecdotes<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Anecdotes: Winners and Losers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of fans of the popular television show \u201cLost\u201d won prizes in the lottery\u2019s drawing on 4 January, 2011, when a near-record US$380 million<\/strong> jackpot was up for grabs. In an episode of the show, character Hugo \u201cHurley\u201d Reyes played the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 and ended up winning a US$114-million<\/strong> jackpot. In the real life drawing, the numbers drawn were 4, 8, 15, 25, 47 and 42 \u2013 four of them matching those drawn on the show. According to media reports, 25,587 tickets matched Hurley\u2019s three winning numbers plus the bonus number to win US$150 apiece.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a fascinating Mega Millions anecdote. A gorilla at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio picked numbers ahead of the March 2012 drawing for the record US$656 million<\/strong> jackpot. Colo, famous for being the first gorilla to be born in captivity anywhere in the world and as the oldest known gorilla in the world, was considered a psychic after correctly guessing the winner of the NCAA Men\u2019s Final Four basketball championship the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colo was given a pile of onions (marked 1 through 56), for her Match 5 numbers, and a pile of turnips (marked 1 through 46), for the Mega Ball. Colo\u2019s pick for the draw was 9, 12, 21, 31, 41 and Mega Ball 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, Colo did not win the jackpot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samir Mazahem, of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, accidentally bought two tickets with the exact same numbers and ended up winning the US$1 million<\/strong> second prize twice in the Mega Millions draw on 9 June, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I went online and bought a ticket using numbers that are family birthdays,” Mazahem said. “I forgot to save the numbers as favourites in the [Michigan Lottery] app, so I went back in and set them up as favourites so I could easily play them in the future. What I didn\u2019t realize, is that meant I would be buying a second ticket with the same numbers. Once I figured out I had bought two tickets with identical numbers, I was a little bummed but didn\u2019t think much about it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mazahem matched the five white balls drawn on both of his tickets: 1, 5, 9, 10, 23. Instead of winning US$1 million<\/strong> in the draw, he took home US$2 million<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*-*-*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More stories about this exciting lottery, including additional Mega Millions anecdotes, can be found in the\u00a0Mega Millions Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n