Mega Millions began on August 31, 1996 as the Big Game. The first drawing took place on September 6, 1996, with six states participating: Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and Virginia.
After exciting growth of the game in 1997, a Tuesday drawing was added in February 1998. Players were given a larger choice of numbers and a "cash payout" option in January 1999. In May 1999, New Jersey became the seventh member state.
In May 2002, the multi-state game was given the new name of "Mega Millions," New York and Ohio became member states, and the game matrix and prize amounts were changed to offer players more excitement.
In September 2002, Washington became the 10th member state, followed by Texas in December 2003. In June 2005, California became the 12th member, solidifying Mega Millions as the country's most widely played multi-state jackpot game.
On January 31, 2010, 23 more state lotteries joined Mega Millions as an historic cross-selling agreement between Mega Millions and Powerball went into effect. With additional lotteries joining since then, Mega Millions is now played in 46 jurisdictions: 44 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
On March 30, 2012, Mega Millions made history with the world's largest prize in any jackpot game ever: $656 million. The jackpot was split three ways, by winning tickets in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland. The record stood for almost four years until it was eclipsed by a Powerball jackpot in January 2016.
Mega Millions became the first jackpot game to offer second-tier prizes of up to $5 million when it relaunched with a new matrix on October 19, 2013. In just over four years with a 5-of-75 plus 1-of-15 matrix, there were 571 Match 5 winners, including 65 that were worth more than the $1 million base prize by including the optional Megaplier. Twenty-eight of those were $5 million winning tickets.
To accommodate public demand for more frequent large jackpots and bigger lower-tier prizes, Mega Millions introduced a new matrix on October 28, 2017, with a $2 ticket price and a $40 million starting jackpot. Not only will jackpots roll faster and higher, but the change in the prize structure means that players now have a much better chance than ever before of winning the second-tier prize of $1 million (or up to $5 million with the optional Megaplier).
Mega Millions made history with the 2017 relaunch by offering a Just the Jackpot play option. Available in many states, this industry-first option allows players to purchase two chances to win the jackpot for just $3.00. These Just the Jackpot tickets are not eligible for any other prize levels.
Did you know?
There was a jackpot winner in the very first Mega Millions drawing. The drawing on May 17, 2002 resulted in a $28 million winning ticket in Illinois. There was a second jackpot winner just one week later - which means there were two jackpot winners within the first three Mega Millions drawings.
Since the game began in 2002, there have been 175 jackpots won by 199 individual tickets (20 jackpots have been shared by two or more winning tickets).
Mega Millions has awarded 12 jackpots of more than $300 million, including a record $656 million in March 2012, which was the world’s largest lotto jackpot until January 2016.
Six Mega Millions jackpots have been won on a Friday the 13th. Michigan has been especially lucky on that special day, with four winning jackpots (June 2008, May 2011, June 2014 and October 2017). A Friday the 13th jackpot was also won in New York in March 2009 and in Ohio in November 2015.
"Resources"
Here some quick links that may come in handy for Mega Millions players:
If you win a prize greater than $600, the state in which you won is required to notify the Internal Revenue Service. For tax information, here is a link to the IRS Web Site: www.irs.gov
We strongly encourage winners of large prizes to get professional financial advice. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has a tool to help you find a personal financial specialist. To use it, click here: PFS Credential Holder Directory
If you or someone you know has a gambling addiction, or if you have questions or need help, you can contact the National Council on Problem Gambling: www.ncpgambling.org or Gamblers Anonymous: www.gamblersanonymous.org.
For a quick explanation of how to play Mega Millions, click here.
For the history of Mega Millions, click here.
To learn more about lotteries in North America, visit the Web site of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries: www.naspl.org
"Beware of fake lottery scams"
Some scammers falsely use Mega Millions name
“You’ve won the lottery!” It’s something that many people want to hear. But sometimes those words come from scammers who are trying to steal your money. Some of those scammers have falsely identified themselves as being affiliated with Mega Millions. No representative of Mega Millions would ever call or e-mail anyone about winning a prize.
The scams take many forms and the scammers use many tricks. The criminals may contact unsuspecting consumers by email, telephone, mobile phone, or through social media sites, and tell intended victims they have won a large prize. They might identify themselves as being with Mega Millions or another legitimate lottery, even though Mega Millions is a game, not an organization.
Most recently, these scams use important-sounding names like “United States National Lottery,” “Mega Millions Mobile Lottery,” "USA UK Mega Millions Lottery," “Mega Millions Corporation” or “Mega Millions International Lottery” – these are all attempts to look legitimate in order to scam people out of their money. None of these so-called entities exist – again, Mega Millions is a game, not an organization. These scammers are fraudulently using our name and our logo.
These scams all have one thing in common: They try to trick you into sending them money or personal information by claiming that you have won a large lottery prize. They often target older people and have been known to wipe out victims’ retirement savings.
If the person is fooled into thinking he or she has won a prize, the crooks usually try to get the person to wire money for “taxes” or “fees.” They may also try to get the victim to provide them with a bank account number, which they will then clean out. Another trick is to send the winner a bogus “check” and ask the winner to send money back to cover expenses. It is only after victims have sent their own money that they discover the check they received is counterfeit.
Here are some tips that can prevent you from being scammed:
If someone says you have won a lottery that you have never played, be suspicious. You can’t win a legitimate lottery if you didn’t buy a ticket.
If you have caller-ID on your phone, check the area code when someone calls to tell you you’ve won. If it is from a foreign country, that is a red flag. Also, be aware that some con artists use technology that allows them to disguise their area code: although it may look like they’re calling from your state, they could be anywhere in the world.
Be suspicious if an e-mail contains misspellings or poor grammar, or if the person who called you uses poor English.
If you are told that you need to keep your “win” confidential, be suspicious.
No real lottery tells winners to put up their own money in order to collect a prize they have already won. If you have to pay a fee to collect your winnings, you haven’t won.
Just because a real lottery is mentioned does not necessarily make it a real prize. Someone may be using the lottery’s name without its permission or knowledge.
Never give out personal information or send money unless you verify the company’s or solicitor’s legitimacy.
If they offer to wire the “winnings” directly into your bank account, do not give them your bank account information.
If you are told that you can “verify” the prize by calling a certain number, that number may be part of the scam. Instead of calling it, you should look up the name of the lottery or organization on your own to find out its real contact information.
If you think someone on the phone is trying to scam you, hang up immediately. If you engage them in conversation, your name and contact information could end up on a list that’s shared with other scammers.
If you like my post , kindly share your thoughts in comments and upvote it thanks :D
sources: