The Mega Millions lottery jackpot has been rising since early September, and since was no jackpot winner on the Christmas Eve drawing, Friday’s jackpot will be a mind-boggling $1.15 billion.
If there is a winner in the next drawing, it would be the fifth largest jackpot in the game’s history. The jackpot would be paid out in 29 annual installments, or the winner could take a cash payout of $516.1 million.
The top jackpot has been won only three times so far in 2024, the fewest wins in any single year since the game began in 2002. Yet just last year, there were 10 jackpots won, the most in a single year since a major matrix change in 2013.
Mega Millions is the only lottery game that has now produced seven jackpots greater than $1 billion. The six won to date were all were awarded in different states – South Carolina was the first in 2018, followed by Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine and Florida in 2023 and New Jersey last March. The Florida prize on August 8, 2023, is the game’s current record jackpot at $1.602 billion.
Tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $2 each; and 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 10 p.m. Central Time on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Ga. The overall odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24; the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.