The Mega Millions lottery jackpot will be 1.35 billion dollars when the drawing happens tomorrow night, the second largest jackpot in its history.
The odds of anyone winning the jackpot are only one in 302 million, but because of what tomorrow is and what it isn’t, lottery officials say they expect to see more people than usual buying a ticket.
You’d think that with tomorrow being Friday the 13th it would be a considered an unlucky day. But according to a news release from the lottery, six previous Mega Millions jackpots have been won on a Friday the 13th. And there are some folks who say 13 is a lucky number for them.
Either way, the odds being what they are, no matter what day it is, no one is likely to win the big jackpot.
Even if no one wins, the revenue from the lottery does help the 45 states that participate in it. But it’s not as much as you may have been led to believe.
While the California Lottery says that 95 cents of every dollar spent on a ticket, goes to public schools and colleges, the jackpot prizes represent the largest chunk of money.
California public schools have received more than $39 billion since the lottery began back in 1985…nearly two billion dollars of that in fiscal year 2020-21. However, that’s only about 1% of the state’s annual budget for public education, but something is better than nothing.
So while superstitious folks may not step on cracks or not walk under a ladder, a lol of them will probably be buying a lottery ticket and hoping that on Friday the 13th… an unlucky day turns into a lucky one.
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