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Long odds: You're more likely to work your way to a billion dollars than win tonight's Mega Millions

Mega Millions
Getty Images | Drew Angerer/Staff

It's possible that by tomorrow morning, a lucky person will be nearly a billion dollars richer.

Tonight's jackpot in the Mega Millions lottery drawing is expected to be worth a cool $830 million (cash value: $487.9 million).


If someone does indeed hit the winning set of numbers, that number will go down as the third largest prize in the history of the game. The largest topped $1.5 billion in 2018. A January 2021 jackpot also topped $1 billion.

But what are YOUR chances of hitting the big money? Jackpot odds, according to the Mega Millions website, sit at 1 in 303 million.

To put that in perspective, here are some things more likely than winning big when those numbers come up tonight:

Odds of death by falling meteorite: 1 in 1.6 million. (National Geographic)

Becoming a canonized saint: 1 in 20 million (ABC News)

Being elected President of the United States: 1 in 32.6 million (The Motley Fool)

Oddly enough, even your chances at becoming a billionaire outside of winning the lottery are better: about 1 in 409,000, according to New Jersey newspaper The Record.

But let's be honest. Taking the Mega Millions route would be more fun. May the odds be ever in your favor.