The Mega Millions jackpot has topped $1 billion for the sixth time in less than six years.
After 30 consecutive drawings without a winner, the grand prize currently stands at an estimated $1.1 billion ($525.8 million cash) for the upcoming drawing on Tuesday, March 26. The jackpot continues to grow as no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Friday night – the white balls 3, 8, 31, 35, and 44, plus the gold Mega Ball 16.
According to a press release, if the jackpot is claimed next Tuesday, it would be the fifth-largest prize in the game’s history.
“Lottery fever continues to spread throughout the country,” said Georgia Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin, the Mega Millions Consortium lead director. “Large jackpots provide entertainment and winnings for our players nationwide while contributing to the beneficiary programs funded by each lottery. We appreciate our players and dedicated retailers, and we encourage everyone to play responsibly.”
In the March 22 drawing, 2,564,114 winning tickets were distributed across all prize tiers. Six tickets matched the five white balls to win the game’s second-tier prize. One ticket, sold in Virginia, is worth $3 million because it included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 3X on Friday night. The remaining five tickets, one each in California, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, and Texas, win the standard second-tier prize. Nationwide, 80 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Twelve are worth $30,000 each because they also include the optional Megaplier. The other 68 third-tier winning tickets take home the standard $10,000 each.
Since the Mega Millions jackpot was last won on December 8 with two tickets in California, there have been more than 26.2 million winning tickets across all prize tiers. These include 43 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, won in 20 different states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.
According to the Mega Millions Consortium, Mega Millions is the only lottery game that has ventured into billion-dollar territory six times. Five jackpots exceeding $1 billion have been awarded to date, all in different states. South Carolina was the first in 2018, followed by Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine in early 2023, and Florida last August. The latter prize is the game’s current record jackpot, at $1.602 billion.
Tickets are $2 each and are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In most jurisdictions, players can add the Megaplier for an additional $1 to multiply their non-jackpot prizes. Half of the proceeds from the sale of each Mega Millions ticket remains in the state where the ticket was sold, where the money supports designated good causes and retailer commissions.
Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia. The odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24; the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
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