Hey, Millionaire! Anyone who loves playing the lottery will know it's super hard to look away
from a big jackpot. You'll also know that the biggest jackpots on earth are associated with just
two names: Mega Millions and Powerball. But knowing that fact is the easy bit. Working out
which one you should be spending your money on is a lot harder. Of course, if you're going to play,
you always want to aim for the biggest payout, but with these two big players being so closely
matched, choosing the best one is no easy task. But don't worry. As always, you've come to the
right place for lottery information, and I am here to help! In this video, we will take a closer look
at the legendary Mega Millions and Powerball games to discover which one you really should have a
ticket for. Which one offers the biggest prizes? And which one offers the best odds of winning?
Stick around to the end of the video for our full analysis! Now, let's get to it...
Both Mega Millions and Powerball are legendary games in the lottery world.
They both emerged in the '90s, with the first Powerball draw taking place way back in 1992
and the first Mega Millions not far behind, with its first draw completed in 1996. But they didn't
make their mark simply by being around for a long time. Their fame is all down to the colossal size
of their jackpots. They both stand out for having the biggest jackpots in the world by
far. For four whole years, Mega Millions held the world record for the biggest jackpot of all time,
after outdoing the previous $390 million record jackpot by nearly double! This was back in 2012,
and their new world record jackpot was a giant $656 million, although it was shared by 3 winners.
But since then, the jackpots have kept growing to an unbelievable size. In January 2016, Powerball
overtook the Mega Millions world record with an unbelievable $1.586 Billion jackpot! It was shared
by 3 winners, but let's face it, they still each walked away with more money than they could ever
spend. Mega Millions didn't shrink away, though - they very nearly beat the record again. But,
following slightly disappointing ticket sales, their biggest record stands at $1.537 billion.
Sure, it's still just under the Powerball record, but that's still the second-highest jackpot
ever. It sure is an incredible amount of cash. And unlike the biggest ever Powerball payout,
this Mega Millions record prize was one by a single ticket. That makes it the largest jackpot
ever won by only one ticket. And that's not the only Mega Millions ticket that won over a billion.
While Powerball has only seen one record-breaking jackpot worth over $1 billion, Mega Millions paid
out another $1.5 billion to a single player in 2021! It's not record-setting, but two billion
dollar wins are better than one, right? So clearly, these two lottery games are
firmly at the top of the leaderboard when it comes to jackpot sizes. But that just makes it
even harder to choose the right one to play. Let's take a closer look at some important
statistics to help you get one step closer to potentially winning a record-breaking jackpot.
Of course, when you're trying to decide which game to play, your chances of actually winning
the jackpot become pretty important. Luckily, this information is published for everyone to see.
Obviously, we'd all like an obvious difference in the odds of winning each game because that would
make choosing one a lot easier. But unfortunately, this is one area where the Powerball and Mega
Millions games are pretty similar. The Mega Millions is slightly more difficult to win, with
jackpot winning odds of just over 1:305 thousand, while the Powerball jackpot odds are about 1:292
thousand. This is also reflected in all the lower prize tiers of the games. All Mega Millions prizes
are slightly harder to win than all Powerball prizes. But the difference isn't huge, as you
can probably tell. Your odds of winning any prize at all from these games are almost identical,
with the Mega Millions odds at 1 in 24 and Powerball odds at 1 in 24.9. But let's face it,
we're not interested in winning $2. We're mainly interested in the jackpot winning odds. If you've
ever heard someone say that you're more likely to get struck by lightning than with the lottery,
this is what they're talking about. Neither one of these games are easy to win - and why should
they be? If winning was easy, you wouldn't be seeing jackpots over a billion dollars.
The number of winners seems to match these statistics too. According to records, 227
individual tickets have won the Mega Millions jackpot, while 351 tickets have landed a Powerball
jackpot. Of course, some of these winning tickets had to share the jackpot. But those numbers show
clearly that it really is easier to pick the right Powerball numbers. But they also show that, even
though the odds are stacked against us, it sure is possible to guess those elusive winning numbers.
But they still haven't quite helped us pick which game we should be buying tickets for.
Lucky for us, we're not choosing the best game to play based on odds alone. Prizes are pretty
important too. Once again, Powerball has the edge here. But again, not by much. We already know that
Powerball has paid out the biggest ever jackpot. But if you peek at the lower tiers, the Powerball
and Mega Millions are almost evenly matched. Both offer $1 million as their second prize. But,
the Powerball offers significantly more to tier 3 winners, with a $50 thousand prize being 5 times
higher than Mega Millions' $10 thousand. But below that, the smaller prizes offered by Mega Millions
are bigger than the ones that Powerball gives out. Still, most people don't have much interest
in these smaller prizes anyway, so Powerball probably beats Mega Millions in this category.
Before continuing, Did you know you can play the lottery from the comfort of your own home? That's
right, you can play Powerball, Mega Millions and many others completely online. To do so, check out
the link in the description. Now, Let's move on! So the Powerball looks like it's leading the
race right now, but not by far. There are still a few important aspects of each game to think about
before we decide. And we all know what we need to think about next - how much it costs. You don't
want to give too much money to any lottery game - after all, it's a high-stakes form of betting. But
in this case, both Mega Millions and Powerball are totally even. They both cost $2 per ticket,
and they also both offer additional games if you're willing to pay a little more.
That's not the only way they're equally matched. They both have a minimum starting jackpot of
$40 million, which was reduced to $20 million in 2020 for both games. They also both allow you to
collect your jackpot prize as 30 annual payments - which is probably the sensible option. Or,
you can collect it as one big lump sum that lets you see more zeros than you ever dreamed of in
your bank account - which is the fun option. But there are a couple ways that they're
different. Mega Millions only allows you to compete for the jackpot, while Powerplay
has a Double Play add-on feature that allows you to play the same numbers in a separate drawing for
a $10 million top prize. If that sounds like an exciting add-on, Powerball might just be
your game. But don't forget Mega Millions has its own additional games, even though they're pretty
different from this. Powerball also has draws 3 times a week, while Mega Millions only has two per
week. Some people feel like two draws are better because they're not tempted to spend money three
times per week. But some people prefer having more chances to win. That's a personal decision
that you'll need to make for yourself. Another personal decision is anonymity - this is really
important for some people. Unfortunately, in the US, this is decided by the state you live in
and not the games themselves. It's best to look into the laws in your state if this
is important to you - you might find that your state does not allow you to remain anonymous.
By now, you can see that these two games are actually pretty similar,
and neither of them are easy to win. Powerball might have the edge in this battle, but they're
definitely not outright winners. When you're playing the lottery, there aren't many shortcuts
to increase your odds of winning the lottery. But there is one way - just play more! How about,
instead of trying to choose the best game, try them both! The more tickets you have, the more you
increase your chances of landing that dream billion-dollar-plus jackpot.
Make sure to check out the link in the description if you'd like to play these games from home! Now,
good luck and I'll see you in the next video. REFERENCES:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/powerball-winners-by-state
https://www.megamillions.com/About/Mega-Millions-Trivia.aspx