The US Mega Millions lottery is once again the biggest in the world, and when the next draw takes place on Tuesday 24th May, someone could be £203 million richer.

There are many lottery draws around the world, but as no-one scooped the Mega Millions jackpot on Friday, the estimated $203 million prize is currently the biggest of them all.

While two tickets matched  the five main numbers for a $750,000 - $1,000,000 payout, there was no ticket that matched the main numbers and the Mega number that would have been worth around $187 million.

Playing Mega Millions

Players pick their main numbers from a pool of 75, followed by a Mega number between 1 and 15. Tickets cost $1 a line, but for an additional $1, players can benefit from a Megaplier, which boosts the value of non-jackpot wins by up to 5x.

The jackpot starts at $15 million, and goes up by at least $5 million with each rollover, although as prizes get bigger, more and more people tend to play, leading to rapid jackpot growth.

Through online ticket services, people from all corners of the globe can now enter the Mega Millions, along with all the other big games including EuroMillions and El Gordo. Numbers are picked online, and local agents then purchase tickets on behalf of the players, with prizes sent directly to winners.

Because of the time differences in different countries, players need to take into account where the lottery draw is taking place, and where they live. The Mega Millions closes for ticket sales at 10.00pm Eastern time on the nights of the draws, which equates to 3.00am the following morning UK time.

If the $203 million prize is scooped by a single ticket at the next draw on Tuesday 24th May, the winner can choose to take a lump sum worth around $132 million, or annual payments over 30 years which are not taxed at source.