The Mega Millions drawing on Friday is flirting with the $1 billion mark after no winner was produced on Tuesday.
After no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night – the white balls 25, 29, 33, 41, and 44, plus the gold Mega Ball 18 – an estimated prize of $940 million ($483.5 million cash) is up for grabs on Jan.6.
This comes just over five months after a ticket in Illinois awarded a player $1.3337 billion on July 23, 2022. In more than 20 years since the game began in 2002, there have been just three larger jackpots than Friday’s estimated prize, according to Lottery Officials.
​​Since the jackpot was last won on October 14, the number of winning tickets at all prize levels has grown to more than 22.7 million across the country through 23 drawings.
In the January 3 drawing alone, there were 2,904,737 winning tickets, with prizes ranging from $2 up to $4 million. Six tickets matched the first five numbers, winning the lottery’s second-highest prize of $1 million each, the lottery said.
The Mega Millions record remains at $1.537 billion, won by a single ticket in South Carolina on October 23, 2018.
