Ever been tempted to try your luck for a chance to win a lottery prize? National lottery games like Powerball and Mega Millions have seen their jackpots rise over $1billion more than a dozen times in recent years.

The winning ticket to the largest jackpot in history valued at over a whopping $2billion went to a lucky Californian in 2022.

The Associated Press spoke with Assistant Professor Gabriel Sosa Castillo from Colgate University to provide more insight on the odds of a player taking home a prize.

Castillo tells us, "the odds of winning any prize is between 2 in 49 and 1 in 25 so about 4%”

So not impossible. However, the odds of winning the jackpot are, “very slim, it’s 1 in 292 million,” according to the Colgate University professor.

For comparison, your odds of being struck by lightning in a year is only 1 in 1.5 million. Being bitten by a shark is 1 in 5 million. So, unfortunately, the odds of winning the grand prize are pretty miniscule.

Many wonder if as excitement grows for a rising jackpot and more people buy tickets, does that change the odds of winning?

Castillo says that is not the case and that the odds remain the same.

What about sharing the jackpot? Is that more likely with more people playing?

Castillo says that is very unlikely.

So when a player does win the jackpot, there’s a good chance they’ll be keeping it all to themselves.