Now that the latest Mega Millions jackpot is up to $1.1 billion — which would be the second-highest number in the lottery’s history — people are looking to press their luck in hopes of receiving a large payout, but how likely is one to actually win the lottery?
According to Steven Diaz, a mathematics professor at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences, the odds of one winning the Mega Millions jackpot is one out of 302,575,350.
Here is a list of phenomenons that one is more likely to experience than winning the lottery:
- Dying in a tornado (one out of 13,000,000 odds)
- Being killed by a shark (one out of 3,700,000 odds)
- Winning an Olympic gold medal (one out of 662,000 odds)
- Finding a four-leafed clover (one out of 10,000 odds)
- Being killed by falling furniture (one out of 5,508 odds)
- Scoring a hole-in-one (one out of 2,500 odds)
- Cracking open a double-yolked egg (one out of 1,000 odds)
- Catching a foul ball (one out of 835 odds)
Friday’s Mega Millions drawing can be watched live at 10 p.m. CT on WJTV in Jackson, WXXV on the Gulf Coast, WCBI in Columbus, WMDN and WGBC in Meridian, WHLT in Hattiesburg, or on the Mississippi Lottery’s website.
