Holidays are days to dream, and last December, $1 spent on a Mega Millions lottery ticket could have made all of those dreams come true. The jackpot for last December’s lottery was an estimated of $206 million and the cash option for that prize was just under $152 million. Powerball lottery

That was the first time, in the last six months, that the jackpot had gone above $200. Back in March, the jackpot climbed all the way to $319 million and seven co-workers in Albany, NY took home that money. Mega lottery

Up to then, there have been 12 jackpot winners in 2011 but, none of them had been from Arizona.

According to the Arizona Lottery, the 10 most-drawn white balls in the Mega Millions game are 19, 20, 10, 12, 45, 48, two, four, 11 and 31. The most drawn gold ball is nine. The five least-drawn white balls are seven, 25, eight, 41 and 42. The least-drawn gold ball is two.

And when it comes to picking your numbers for the lottery, you always have three options.

The first option is that you can let the computer choose the numbers for you. The second possibility is that you can choose your own numbers according to whatever formula you like. And last method but, not least efective, is for you to choose either the white numbers or just the Megaball number and let the computer pick the rest.

There are nine winning combinations in the Mega Millions game, and the prizes start at $2.

The odds of winning the whole bag of chips, which means matching all five white balls plus the gold ball, are 1 in slightly less than 176 million. The odds of winning something in the game — anything from $2 on up — are approximately 1 on 40.

In the case of this $206 million, the jackpot had been rolling over since Nov. 4. Nov.1 was the last big jackpot with $78 million. The single winning ticket in that drawing was sold in California.

If you have not yet bought your Mega Millions ticket, remember this is not your last chance to win, maybe not $206 million anymore but, a lot of cash is always at play.

A total of 41 other states and the District of Columbia, aside from Arizona also offer the Mega Millions game.

Even when Arizonans have won smaller prizes in the game, no jackpot-winning ticket has been sold, so far, in Arizona.

If you could be the next jackpot winner, what would you do with all those millions? Chances are everyone has a different idea about it. But, one thing is sure. Whatever your plans of spending, investing, traveling, buying, helping others, or sharing are: the only way you can be sure to win, is by playing the game. But, remember to play with limits, the purpose of the game is to help. After all, it is only a game, so play it and enjoy it!