Everyone is trying to get their hands on the Mega Million. Formerly known as The Big Game when it debuted in 1996, The Mega Million is an American institution multi-jurisdictional lottery game. It is offered in 45 states and is a dream for many hoping to score those lucky numbers. According to its official Wikipedia, “Mega Millions is drawn at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday and Friday evenings, including holidays. Mega Millions is administered by a consortium of its 12 original lotteries; the drawings are held at the studios of WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, supervised by the Georgia Lottery.”
They’ve been several record jackpot winners in the lotteries history. The largest Mega Millions jackpot was $1.537 billion, won on October 23, 2018. The winning ticket was sold in South Carolina. The record Mega Millions jackpot was not claimed until March 5, 2019, with the winner choosing to remain anonymous under South Carolina law.
The second largest lottery payout was the Powerball’s $1.05 billion jackpot won on January 13, 2016, by multiple tickets. The third-largest Mega Millions jackpot was advertised as $640 million at the time of the drawing and was won on March 30, 2012. The actual value was ultimately clocked in at $500 million after the winner claimed.
The Mega Millions is currently approaching 1.28 billion at the time of writing. If won, it’ll become the second largest win in the history of the game. One past lottery winner from 1999 opened up about the life-changing experience on his podcast, saying, “It can change pretty much everything, relationships, your ability to live a life,” he said. “I think it can buy time, which can be invaluable. And, you know, it’s one of the most surreal life-changing things that can possibly happen to somebody.”
Everyone is looking to cash in on life-changing earnings, including celebrities. DJ Khaled took to social media to show off a stack of lottery tickets he played. “I hope you played cause I did!” he told fans. People jumped in his comments to argue that he was taking away money from people who might actually need it. “@Djkhaled, do you need it? Taking other ppl chances and opportunities away!!!!!!” said one fan. Another told him, “Crazy, all these millionaires buying up a bunch of lottery tickets greed is a terrible ailment give someone less fortunate a chance.” Many people are not feeling it and think its flat out unfair what he is doing. “I don’t understand why rich people play the lottery for when y’all already got money… allow us to win!! Damn!!”
Over on Twitter, people argued that rich people should not be allowed to play the lotto at all. “Celebrities and wealthy people playing the lotto should be illegal. Do regular people come to bother you in first class? No. So leave us and our regular ppl stuff alone. We need the lotto more than y’all do!!!”
🤑 12 rich celebrities who are looking to get even richer by playing the Lotto!#YoMillions pic.twitter.com/sbxiVuyGNL
— YoMillions (@YoMillions_) September 4, 2018
In 2018, Yo Million actually posted a list of celebrities who have played the lotto and won. Amongst them Madonna. The OG Material Girl reportedly won over 200k that she then donated to help build a school in Malawi.
