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Mega Millions: Jackpot, drawing time, odds, cost, and more

From the odds of winning and the time of the drawing, it's all here.

Store owner Manoj Patel sells a Mega Millions lottery ticket at the MacDade Food Mart in Glenolden on Tuesday.
Store owner Manoj Patel sells a Mega Millions lottery ticket at the MacDade Food Mart in Glenolden on Tuesday.Read moreJOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer

The Mega Millions drawing with a record jackpot of $1.6 billion is set for Tuesday night.

Here's everything to need to know.

• Top prize: The jackpot is the biggest ever, topping the $1.58 billion jackpot set by Powerball in the Jan. 13, 2016, drawing. That prize was split three ways.

• Time: The drawing is set for 11 p.m. Tuesday eastern time

• Ticket deadline: The deadline for buying tickets is 9:45 p.m. eastern time.

• Cost: Tickets cost $2 for each game.

• Multiplier: The multiplier option costs another dollar and increases all prizes except the jackpot by 2 to 5 times, based on the number that is drawn.

• How to win: To win the jackpot, you need to have the first five balls plus the yellow Mega Ball.

• Odds: Your odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million. The odds of winning the $1 million second place prize — more if you have the multiplier — are 1 in 12.6 million. You need the first five balls without the Mega Ball to to claim this prize.

>> READ MORE: The steep odds of Mega Millions: You'd have better luck at these tasks

• Annuity vs. cash: The jackpot is an annuity paid out in 29 annual installments. The lump sum cash payment is $904 million, before taxes.

• Taxes: Based on current tax rates, your estimated jackpot annuity would be $38.9 million in Pennsylvania, $36.2 million in New Jersey, and $40.5 million in Delaware, according to usamega.com. The lump sum payment would be $659.9 million in Pennsylvania, $615.3 million in New Jersey, and $687.7 million in Delaware.

• Publicity: Can you claim you prize anonymously? Not in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the Powerball. But Delaware and five other states — Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio, and South Carolina — allow you to keep your name secret. Those rules also apply for Mega Millions.

• Location: The drawing will be held at WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia.

• Powerball odds: The odds of winning both the Mega Millions jackpot and Powerball's top prize of $620 million (annuity) or $354.3 million (cash) Wednesday night are 1 in 88,000,000,000,000,000, that's 88 quadrillion.

• Lightning odds: Your chances of being struck by lightning in your lifetime are 1 in 14,600 or 1 in 1.1 million in any given year, according to the National Weather Service.