reporter: if you were to get second place, would you be happy with that? yeah, sure. a million bucks maybe. i would be happy with 500 bucks. reporter: america has lottery fever. in 2002 the winning prize was $331 million. now we re seeing $587 million, $590 million. even $656 million. now last night s $400 million powerball drawing to that list. next month the mega millions rules will change. if you hit five out of the six numbers you win 250,000 bucks. in october that number will soar to anywhere between $1 million and $5 million. and more good news, your odds of winning a prize of any kind will improve from 1 in 40 to 1 in 15. higher starting jackpot, bigger rolls, bigger second prizes and a much better chance overall of winning any prize.
if you were to get second place, would you be happy with that snnchts yeah. sure. a million bucks maybe. i would be happy with 500 bucks. america has lottery fever. the jackpot soaring. in 2002 the biggest prize was $331 million. now we re seeing numbers like 587 million. 590 mill, even $66 $656 million. next month the megamillion s rules will change. the consulation prizes will balloon. now if you hit five of the six numbers you win 250,000 bucks. in october that number will soar from anywhere to a million dollars and 5 million. more good news. your odds of winning a prize of any kind will improve from 1 in 40 to 1 in 15. higher starting jackpot, bigger roles, bigger second prizes and a much better chance
for them. not a lot of people are telling me they would buy mansions or maz rserat maseratis. people will give. which i thought was quite sweet. is it me or are we seeing more huge lottery jackpots in recent years? reporter: it is not you at all. we are seeing bigger jackpots. we had the last one back in november. it was $587 million. now this one $600 million. what happened ways basically about a year and a half ago, they changed the rules. they increased the price per ticket. so it went from $1 per ticket to $2 per ticket and if you re putting more money in to the system, then of course you ll get bigger jackpots. the other day when the jackpot was about $300 million, i spent $6 and i bought three tickets, $2 each. here is the good news. are you ready? are you ready for the good news? reporter: tell me the good news. i won $4. i spent $6, but i won $4.
ford fridge magnets on cars. we like our canadian friends. the third largest lotto jackpot ever. no winner last week. it sky-rocketed to $550 million. less than the $of 56 and $587 million of megamillions and powerball. the state of virginia expected to sell 4.7 million tickets this saturday. what would you do right after you find out that money is yours? tweet me using the hash tag #drinksonme. i would hold it. i might sweat on it. i don t think i ll hop a g-6 and fly to vegas. fighting to play another
kahuna, $587 million, the biggest powerball jackpot of all time. and pumped about $15 billion into participating states economies, going towards things like schools and parks and running the lottery. big money tonight. reporter: but while the pot sizes are improving, odds stay the same, 1 in 175 million to win it all, making you more likely to play for the nba, become the president of the united states, or die in any number of dreadful ways bees, sharks, or lightning strikes than to win this jackpot. rebecca jarvis, abc news, new york. we can still dream. there s always the next drawing. we re still in it. now we go to a man in houston who likes to dance like nobody s watching, but in reality, everybody s watching. juan carlos takes his disco dancing routine on the road every single day, showing off