Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot will be one of the largest in US history — but Lady Luck will have her work cut out for her.
It’s harder than ever to win the grand prize — now at $550 million and growing — thanks to changes in October that are creating larger prizes and fewer big winners.
The $1-per-ticket game changed its rules to create more frequent, smaller prizes and bigger, faster-growing jackpots that are much harder to win.
As of Oct. 22, the odds of winning jumped to a startling 1 in 259 million — up from 1 in 176 million.
Players previously picked six numbers in total, the first five from a field from 1 to 56, and a Mega number from 1 through 46.
But since the change, players must now pick five numbers from 1 through 75, and a Mega number from 1 through 15. No one has claimed the jackpot since the changes.
“The odds were high enough as it is!” wailed John Steiner, 35, a bartender on the Upper East Side who nonetheless bought two tickets. “It’s pretty ridiculous that they increased them.”
Faced with such daunting odds, some would-be millionaires are holding on to their dough.
“Mostly, you’re throwing a little bit of money away hoping to get a lot back. But if the odds are increasing that much, I probably won’t waste the money next time,” said Rhea Sud, 26, of Harlem.
Players have more of a chance of being struck by lightning — 1 in 10,000 over an 80-year lifetime, according to the National Weather Service — than they do of becoming a multimillionaire. A person’s chance of contracting West Nile Virus is 1 in 66,592, according to federal data.