WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The jackpot for the Mega Millions lottery game has climbed to 450 million U.S. dollars, just hours before the Friday night drawing.
Lottery officials also increased the jackpot of Powerball, the other national lottery game, to 570 million dollars. That drawing will be Saturday night.
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot is one in 302.5 million. Powerball has odds of one in 292.2 million, said a CBS news report.
The jackpots refer to the annuity options for both games, in which payments are made over 29 years. Most winners opt for cash options, which would be 281 million dollars for Mega Millions and 358.5 million dollars for Powerball.
The average American spends about 200 dollars a year on lottery tickets, said the report.
