How hard is it to win the lottery? Odds to keep in mind as Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots soar

abcnews.go.com:

Your chances of winning the lottery are extremely slim — even as more and more eye top prizes soaring to jaw-dropping heights

NEW YORK — There’s no shaking it. Your chances of winning the lottery are extremely slim — even as more and more eye top prizes soaring to jaw-dropping heights.

Ahead of Wednesday night's drawing, the estimated jackpot for Powerball reached $1 billion — marking the seventh largest prize across U.S. lottery history. And Mega Millions' jackpot grew to an estimated $720 million after there was no winner Tuesday.

But don't plan on entering a new tax bracket anytime soon. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot — no matter the size — stand near 1 in 292.2 million. Chances of taking home Mega Millions' top prize are even lower, at about 1 in 302.6 million.

Because of the almost impossible chance of winning big, experts stress that you shouldn't spend all your money on lottery tickets. If you choose to play, it's important to be mindful of what you can afford — and maybe consider other places to put your money, even if it's just a few dollars at a time.

Lottery tickets are “definitely not good investments,” Matthew Kovach, an assistant professor in Virginia Tech's economics department told The Associated Press. “They’re not even investments… there’s an expectation you will always lose money.”

Here are some things to know about the odds of winning the lottery.

WINNING THE LOTTERY IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE. WHAT'S MORE LIKELY?

There's a long list of rare events that are more likely than winning the Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot.

“Imagine you have scrabble tiles that spell out ‘Powerball.’ Mix them up and then select them in a random order," Kovach explained. “The chance of correctly spelling ‘Powerball’