Mega Millions Goes Mighty, With Friday’s Jackpot Over $1.1 Billion

Well. Santa Claus struck out on Christmas Eve, as nobody won the $970 million Mega Millions jackpot.

It would appear jolly ol’ Saint Nick has now passed the baton to Baby New Year, and Friday night will be that tyke’s first crack at turning someone in America into an instant billionaire. Yep, billionaire, as the estimated jackpot for Friday’s draw is at a whopping $1.15 billion.

If someone wins on Friday night, it will be the eighth largest winning jackpot in U.S. lottery history, eclipsing last March’s $1.13 billion haul (which was finally claimed earlier this week).

And if nobody wins Friday, and this thing rolls over into a New Year’s Eve drawing Tuesday night? It could climb to the sixth largest in history.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a press release. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays – whether Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, or any other way people choose to celebrate the season – than by helping fulfill the dreams that come with a prize like this and prizes that will be won at all levels of the game.”

Tuesday night’s winning numbers – 11, 14, 38, 45, 46, and a gold Mega ball of 3 – did not yield the big winner, but it did yield four new millionaires in California, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and Missouri, as four ticket buyers in those states hit all five white balls.

Lottery Geeks estimates over 103 million tickets were sold for Tuesday’s drawing, and that number is only expected to grow as we head toward Friday’s jackpot drawing.

With the jackpot now over a billion dollars, this marks the seventh time the Mega Millions jackpot has hit 10 digits. The previous times were March’s winner in New Jersey, plus South Carolina in 2018, followed by Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, and Maine and Florida in 2023. The Florida prize on August 8, 2023, is the game’s current record jackpot at $1.602 billion.

Hey, I exist!

Is must be what Powerball is saying, assuming Powerball was sentient and capable of human-like speech, thought, and behavior.

Nobody took home Powerball’s top prize Wednesday night – winning numbers 15, 26, 27, 30, 35 and a red Powerball of 3 – making Saturday’s jackpot a not-shabby $145 million (with a $66.2 million cash value).

The Power Play multiplier came in at 3x, and that made one ticket buyer in New Jersey pretty happy, as they hit the five white balls and took home $3 million. Not a bad Christmas present!

Lottery Geeks estimates 11.7 million tickets were sold for Wednesday’s draw.

Tickets for either lottery cost $2, with most states offering the multiplier option — which impacts any prize won except the jackpot — for an additional $1.

Both Powerball and Mega Millions are legal in all states except Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. Tickets for both draw games are also sold in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Puerto Rico, customers can buy tickets for Powerball, but not for Mega Millions.

All-time biggest jackpots

Here is a list of the all-time top 10 U.S. lottery jackpots:

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $1.76 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
3. $1.6 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
4. $1.59 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
5. $1.54 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
6. $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
7. $1.34 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
8. $1.33 billion, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
9. $1.13 billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024, won in New Jersey
10. $1.08 billion, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California

And here’s the all-time top 10 by lump-sum cash value:

1. $997.6 million, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $983.5 million, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
3. $877.8 million, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
4. $794.2 million, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
5. $780.5 million, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
6. $776.6 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021, won in Michigan
7. $774.1 million, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
8. $723.5 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
9. $621 million, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
10. $558.1 million, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California