Mega Millions jackpot history: how the American rolls get so large

What Mega Millions is

A multi-jurisdiction American lottery, drawn twice a week in the United States and sold across most of the country. The Australian product matched to it is called USA Mega Lotto, and the two are not the same thing in law even though the winning numbers are: you hold an Australian ticket, and the operator holds the American one.

Because the American draw happens in United States evening time, it is reported here on the following Australian day. Every date on this site, including the draw nights below, is the Australian reporting date rather than the American one.

The format, and the odds of the top division

Five main numbers are drawn from seventy, plus a Mega Ball drawn from a separate barrel of twenty four. The top division is all five main numbers with the Mega Ball, and the chance of a single game taking it is 1 in 290,472,336. That figure is not quoted from anybody: it is the number of ways five numbers can be chosen from seventy, multiplied by the twenty four the Mega Ball can be, so it can be checked with a calculator and it never changes while the format does not.

Draws are reported here on Wednesday and Saturday. Every combination has the same chance as every other, and nothing on this site changes that.

The Mega Ball coming from its own barrel is what makes the top division so much longer than the main numbers alone, and the long odds are the reason the jackpot rolls as far as it does. A prize that nobody wins is a prize that grows.

How an Australian plays it

Through The Lottery Office, which is licensed by the Northern Territory Government under Internet Gaming Licence IGL1001. It conducts its own Australian lottery matched to the American draw and buys a matching ticket in the real American draw so that it can pay out. You choose the numbers, the operator buys the matching ticket before the American draw closes, and if those numbers come up it pays you the amount you won.

The consequence worth understanding is stated in the operator's own account terms: you will not own any Foreign Lottery Ticket and will make no claim in relation to the same. The ticket you hold is the Australian one, and your claim is against the Australian operator. Our explainer on playing overseas lotteries from Australia sets out the licensing and the law in full.

The tax position on an American win

This is the one that differs most from the Australian draws, and every line of it is the operator's own statement rather than our conclusion. Their FAQ says no Australian taxes are payable on winnings from their lotteries, which sits consistently with the Australian Taxation Office treating a prize as a windfall rather than income.

The United States is where the money is reduced. Their terms name USA Power Lotto and USA Mega Lotto prize amounts of USD 1,000 or more as subject to tax. Their FAQ states 24 per cent federal withholding on winnings over USD 5,000, plus a state tax that varies by the state the matched ticket was bought in and will not exceed 8 per cent, all deducted from the prize before payment. So the amount that lands in your account can be meaningfully smaller than the amount you won, and that happens before any Australian question arises.

On the two American rates you will see quoted, including elsewhere on this site. The United States runs two separate regimes and they do not overlap. A foreign claimant is withheld at 30 per cent, whether that is a non-resident individual under section 1441 or a foreign company under section 1442, and Australia has no treaty relief from it. A US person is withheld at 24 per cent on prizes over USD 5,000 under section 3402(q), and the regulation under that section expressly excludes payments made to a non-resident alien individual or a foreign corporation, so the two figures are two different questions rather than a contradiction. The operator quotes 24 per cent, which is the US person figure, while its own terms say the overseas ticket is theirs and it is an Australian company. Reconciling those would need to know who is the payee of record in the United States and in what capacity, and that is not published anywhere we could find. So we will not tell you a rate. What is settled is that US tax comes out before the money reaches Australia, and the amount landing in an Australian account can be smaller than the amount you won. For your own position, read the operator’s terms and product disclosure statement for the game you played, and take advice on a real prize.

Reporting is yours. Their account terms put it on the customer: you are solely responsible for the reporting and payment of any taxes and charges arising on amounts paid or transferred to you. What a lottery prize actually pays works through the Australian side, including what happens once a prize is earning something, and sets out why the two American rates people quote do not both apply to the same claimant.

The jackpot running now

Read live from our own jackpot data, never typed into this paragraph, so it cannot go stale on the page while the operator moves on.

Past runs

Each entry records what the jackpot reached, in the currency it was advertised in, on the date it was advertised. We are not printing a threshold for what counts as a big run: the Australian dollar figure moves with the exchange rate, so any line drawn in dollars would move with it too. An American jackpot is advertised as an annuity total, which is a different number again from the cash value a winner can take.

Frequently asked questions