[adamdavis]

Word. I was looking at the numbers for MegaMillions - seems like one of the payouts is 1 million dollars - which I think can easily turn into 400k if you took a lump sum. There are also a few payouts that are smaller sums.

This is a sort of silly question, but does one only 'win' the lottery if they get the jackpot?

[mgkimsal]

You can usually win something by matching a subset of the numbers. Matching all 7, for example, is the 'jackpot', but matching, say, 5, might net you $10k. Matching 4 might net $100. Usually matching < half the numbers in a lottery drawing gets you nothing, from what I recall.

We've got a bunch in North Carolina - the 'cash5' game has you pick 5 numbers. If you match any 2, you get $1 - I think that's the ticket price. The winnings for matching 3, 4 or 5 are dependent on how many tickets are sold and how many other matches there are. http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/faq_cash5.aspx That approach may be more common for lotteries - I'm no expert :)