Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot has hit $1.1 billion, which could mark the second highest winning ticket for the jackpot game. Here’s a look at how much someone could take home and what they could choose to purchase with the winnings.
Mega Millions Jackpot: The Mega Millions jackpot for Friday July 29 has hit $1.1 billion. A winning ticket could be drawn Friday night and would give a winner an important decision.
Winners of large jackpots can take a lump sum cash payment or choose to be paid out the full amount over 30 years, with one payment upfront and additional payments each year going up by 5% to fight inflation.
To win the jackpot, a player needs to match five white balls numbered 1 to 70 and a Mega Ball numbered 1 to 25.
The odds to win the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
Matching five white balls pays out $1 million with odds of 1 in 12,607,706.
Overall odds to win a prize of at least $4 from the $2 Mega Millions ticket are 1 in 24.
At the time of writing, the cash payout is $648.2 million.
A winner will have to pay federal taxes of 37% on the winnings and will be responsible for state taxes depending on where they reside.
After federal taxes, the lump sump payout is $408,366,000, which could be saved, invested or spent on various items by the winner. Here’s a look at 10 items that could be considered.
Related Link: Mega Millions Jackpot July 29: How To Play, Where To Buy Tickets And Where Winning $1 Billion Lottery Ranks
Related Link: How To Buy Cryptocurrency
5. Apple Stock: One of the top performing stocks of the last 10 years is Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL). Worth $2.5 trillion, Apple is one of the largest companies in the world and likely to remain a market leader for years to come. The $408.36 million could purchase 2,539,432 shares of Apple.
6. Tesla Stock: Winning $408.36 million would not put the person on the Bloomberg Billionaires list like Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, who tops the list at $248 billion. It could however, allow the winner the opportunity to buy 474,656.53 shares of Tesla.
7. Tesla Model Ys: One of the most popular electric vehicles is the Model Y from Tesla. A winner could choose to buy a collection of Tesla Model Ys for themselves or to give them away to family members and friends. The winnings could buy 6,188 Tesla Model Ys based on a price of $65,990 each before savings.
9. Sports Teams: For the ultra wealthy, buying a professional sports team has been a way to preserve and gain wealth. Despite the large winnings of $408.36 million, the winner would only be able to buy a NHL or MLS team among the largest sports leagues in the U.S.
Benzinga Users Chime In: Benzinga polled its followers on Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) on Friday with the question regarding the Mega Millions.
“What would be the first thing you’d do if you won the $1B jackpot?” Benzinga asked.
While several of the options above center around investing, user @stephen18644932 said they would “delete my trading app so I’m not tempted to lose it all.”
User @official_MrRic followed #3 above and said they would invest in AMC, GameStop “and many, many other plays.”
User @DOGEmanDex offered some potential safe advice by saying they would invest in “safe deposit box, attorney and trust fund.”
Benzinga follower @RichardJudge17 followed #7 above and said they would “buy real estate.”
User @Mo_Rockett said they would also invest in real estate but would also buy some cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Floki Inu (CRYPTO: FLOKI).
Twitter follower @ABuffalo4lyfe may have the best investment piece of advice by saying they would “Buy Benzinga.”
This article is not intended as investment advice.
Photo via Shutterstock.
© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.
