Mega Millions: Drawing Nears For $1.1 Billion Jackpot, 3rd Largest In Game History
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(Fox 9) — The Mega Millions jackpot has soared to an estimated $1.1 billion — now the third-largest jackpot in the game’s history — ahead of Tuesday night’s drawing.
The grand prize also comes with a $568.7 million cash option after no ticket matched all six numbers that were drawn on Friday night.
The next drawing is Tuesday, Jan. 10 at 11 p.m. ET.
The only Mega Millions jackpots larger than Tuesday’s estimated $1.1 billion are the game’s record of $1.537 billion, won in South Carolina in October 2018, and $1.337 billion won in Illinois on July 29, lottery officials said.
Friday night’s Mega Millions numbers and winners
Friday night’s numbers were white balls 3, 20, 46, 59, 63, and gold Mega Ball 13.
Five tickets matched the five white balls to win the game’s $1 million second-tier prize. Two were sold in New York and one each in Florida, Maryland, and New Jersey, lottery officials said.
Another 115 tickets across the country matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize of $10,000. Fifteen of those tickets were worth $30,000 each because they included the optional Megaplier — available in most states with an extra $1 purchase — which was 3X on Friday night.
How to play Mega Millions, odds of winning the jackpot
Mega Millions drawings are held Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. ET. Five white balls are drawn from a set of balls numbered 1 through 70, and one gold Mega Ball is drawn from a set of balls numbered 1 through 25. Players win if the numbers on one row of a ticket match the numbers of the balls drawn on that date.
Mega Millions tickets cost $2 per play. Players win the jackpot by matching all six numbers in a drawing. If no one wins the jackpot, the money is added to the jackpot for the next drawing.
Those lucky enough to become a Mega Millions jackpot winner get the choice of a cash option or an annual payout. The annuity option means getting an initial payment followed by 29 annual payments, and each payment is 5% larger than the previous one.
Those who select the cash option receive a one-time, lump-sum payment that is equal to all the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool after taxes.
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot prize is roughly 1 in 302,575,350, lottery officials said. But a player’s overall chance of winning any prize is 1 in 24.
This story was reported from Cincinnati.
