The United States is about to draw its biggest-ever jackpot of US$1.6 billion (NZ$2.4 billion).
The prize money for the Mega Millions lottery has swelled to a historic amount after no one won last Friday's draw, itself with a jackpot of US$1 billion (NZ$1.5 billion).
On Tuesday evening (local time) the lottery will be drawn and if there are again no winners the jackpot will increase to a whopping US$2 billion (NZ$3 billion).
The eye watering prize has seen lottery ticket sales go through the roof as Americans hope to become billionaires for just the couple of dollars a single ticket costs.
Lottery officials estimate 75 percent of all possible number combinations - of which there are more than 300 million - will have been bought by the time of Tuesday's draw.
Entrants have a one in 303 million chance of buying the combination that wins the jackpot.
The winner can either receive their winnings in one lump sum or as a series of 30 annual payments, each of which will be 5 percent more money than the last.
You don't have to be a US citizen to buy a ticket, but you do have to be in the country to purchase one. Despite the prevalence of websites in many different languages claiming to sell Mega Millions tickets, the company says they're not affiliated with any online international retailers.
Only residents of certain states including Kentucky, North Carolina and New York are eligible to buy their tickets online - everyone else will have to pick theirs up in store.
But that doesn't seem to have discouraged the approximately 225 million hopefuls who have bought tickets, praying theirs is the one that will earn them a life-changing amount of money.
Newshub.
