Due to strong ticket sales, the Mega Millions jackpot for Tuesday, Dec. 17, today was boosted to an

(16 Dec 2013) Sales of lottery tickets for the five hundred eighty six million dollar jackpot in the Mega Millions drawing are brisk.
Lottery officials pushed the value of winning the lottery up on Monday morning.
It is the second-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history, and the fourth-largest ever in North America.
If one ticket matches all six numbers for the $586 million jackpot, the winner will have the choice of receiving the full jackpot in 30 annual payments, or a cash prize of approximately $316.5 million before taxes.
The Mega Millions jackpot has been boosted to $586 million.
The hike pushes the prize for Tuesday's drawing closer to the $656 million U.S. record set last year.
Should nobody win this week, officials say the jackpot could approach the once-unheard of $1 billion mark.
Paula Otto, executive director of the Virginia Lottery and Mega Millions' lead director, says ticket sales are ahead of projections.
She says the jackpot may be increased one more time on Tuesday morning in advance of the evening drawing.
She says if no winner is selected Tuesday and Friday, the jackpot could surpass $1 billion for the Christmas Eve drawing.
As Professor Scott Norris of the Mathematics Department of Southern Methodist University explains, that billion dollar drawing may be a long way off.
Between 65 and 70 percent of the roughly 259 million possible number combinations will likely be in play when the numbers are drawn Tuesday.

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