Nearly 87K Mega Millions tickets sold in Rhode Island since Saturday

The Rhode Island Lottery said since 2 p.m. Saturday, 86,890 tickets have been bought in the state.

CRANSTON, R.I. (WLNE) — The drawing for the Mega Millions jackpot on Tuesday night is now sitting at $830 million — the third largest in history.

Melissa Juhnowski, a spokesperson for Rhode Island Lottery, said a lot of Rhode Islanders are hoping to win those very lucky numbers.

The Rhode Island Lottery said since 2 p.m. Saturday, 86,890 tickets have been bought in the state.

But, the odds of winning the jackpot is one in 303 million.

In the state’s history, only one Mega Millions jackpot ticket has been won in Rhode Island. That ticket was sold to a father and son duo in 2017 at Martin’s Petroleum in East Providence for $42 million. That was split with someone else who had the winning numbers in Michigan.

If you are lucky enough to get Tuesday night’s winning numbers, you’ll have two choices of how to get that money.

“The estimated jackpot that we advertise is $830 million dollars. It can be paid out over 30 payments over 29 years. The other option a winner can take is the lumpsum and that is $487.9 million dollars,” Juhnowski said.

The money the winner does not take home goes back to the state that it was sold in. In Rhode Island, the money goes back into a ‘”general fund” that goes towards things like public assistance or education.

The first Mega Millions drawing was in 1996. It came to Rhode Island in 2010 — and is now in 44 states, including Washington, D.C.

The deadline to buy your jackpot ticket is 9:50 p.m. EST.

Tuesday’s drawing will be picked at 11 p.m. If no winner is picked, the next drawing will be at 11 p.m. Friday. The drawings take place in Atlanta, Georgia.