Mega Millions Jackpot Surges Past $600 Million

December 7, 2024 – The Mega Millions® jackpot is gaining momentum as its continues its upward climb! Last won in Texas on September 10, the jackpot is now estimated at $619 million ($297.7 million cash) for the next drawing on Tuesday, December 10. If won at that level, it would be the tenth largest jackpot in the game’s history. The big prize keeps rolling after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Friday night – the white balls 16, 21, 33, 39 and 45, plus the gold Mega Ball 24.

It’s just the tenth time since Mega Millions began in 2002 that the jackpot has topped $600 million, and only the third time that such a large prize has ever been offered during the month of December. The first was a $648 million jackpot split between California and Georgia on December 17, 2013; it was the second-largest jackpot awarded at that point in the game’s history. Then on December 30, 2022, the jackpot reached $685 million as it continued a tremendous roll that ended with a $1.3 billion win in Maine on January 13, 2023.

While the size of the jackpot attracts enthusiastic player interest, there are eight other prize tiers; as more people play, more prizes are won, from $2 to more than $1 million. In the 25 drawings of this current jackpot run that began on September 13, there have been more than 15.3 million winning tickets sold. These include 38 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, won in 18 different jurisdictions from coast to coast: California, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

In the December 6 drawing alone, there were a total of 1,003,826 winning tickets at all prize levels. Around the country, 26 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Four of those are worth $20,000 each because they included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 2X Friday night; the other 22 take home the standard $10,000 each.

Note: Prize amounts in California will vary, as they are calculated on a pari-mutuel basis.

Prior to the September 10 win in Texas (at $810 million), the jackpot had been won on just two earlier occasions this year. First was a $1.128 billion prize in New Jersey on March 26, followed by $552 million awarded to an online player in Illinois on June 4. That was the largest lottery prize ever won from an online purchase. No one has yet come forward to claim the big New Jersey jackpot; that ticket will expire if not claimed by March 26, 2025, and the unpaid prize will revert back to each participating Mega Millions jurisdiction.

Mega Millions is the only lottery game that has produced six jackpots greater than $1 billion. All were won in different states – South Carolina was the first in 2018, followed by Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine in early 2023, Florida last August and New Jersey in 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; 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 overall odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24; the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.

The top Mega Millions jackpots:

Source: Mega Millions

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