Mega Millions jackpot swells to estimated $830 in third-largest drawing

PHILADELPHIA - The Mega Millions' jackpot has swelled to it's third-largest total ever and hopeful players purchased their tickets ahead of Tuesday's drawing. 

The winning numbers to score the estimated $830M jackpot are: 29, 63, 66, 7, 60, 15.

The cash option for the grand prize is $487.9 million before taxes. There have only been two other jackpots higher than the current one, both of them were worth more than $1 billion.

Lottery officials on Tuesday told FOX 29's Chris O'Connell that as of 4 p.m., more than 6,300 tickets were being sold per minute in Pennsylvania. Even with a slim-to-none chance of winning the Mega Millions, everyone has a plan if the dream came true. 

"I would pay off my bills, I guess I would buy a new house, I would donate some money and all my family would get part of it," a lottery hopeful told FOX 29.

Mega Millions tickets cost $2 per play. Players win the jackpot by matching all six numbers in a drawing. If no one wins the jackpot, the money is added to the jackpot for the next drawing. 

For those lucky enough to become a Mega Millions jackpot winner, they get the choice of a cash option or an annual payout. The annuity option means getting an initial payment followed by 29 annual payments, and each payment is 5% larger than the previous one. For those that select the cash option, they receive a one-time, lump-sum payment that is equal to all the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool after taxes. 

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot prize is roughly 1 in 302,575,350, lottery officials said. But a player’s overall chance of winning any prize is 1 in 24.