The Mega Millions jackpot has made history as it surpassed the sixth-largest in the lottery’s 20-year history, after the grand prize rose to an estimated $640m.
The lottery announced the jackpot had increased again after no players matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday. According to the lottery, this means it’s “by far the largest Mega Millions prize ever offered in the final week of any year”.
On Tuesday night, the white balls drawn were nine, 13, 36, 59 and 61, with the gold Mega Ball11.
Although no ticket matched all six numbers, there were multiple winners of smaller prizes, according to the lottery, which reports that there were 1,945,697 winning tickets at all prize levels, with five tickets matching five of the six numbers. Two were sold in California, while additional tickets were purchased in Florida, Georgia and Mississippi.
An additional 44 tickets across the country matched four of the numbers, plus the Mega Ball, to win the game’s third-tier prize from Tuesday’s drawing, according to Mega Millions.
According to the press release, the new jackpot is the “very last” to be drawn in 2022, with the lottery noting that the next drawing will take place on Friday 30 December.
As for the cash prize, a winning player of Friday’s drawing would walk away with at least $328.3m. Unfortunately, winning the jackpot is highly unlikely, as Forbes points out that the odds of winning are one in 302 million.
The multi-million-dollar jackpot has been increasing since the Mega Millions was last won on 14 October, when tickets sold in California and Florida shared a $502m prize.
The hefty prize comes after the record-breaking $2bn Powerball lottery finally came to a close in November, after an anonymous individual in California won the jackpot.
As of now, the winner of the Powerball prize has not come forward.
The next drawing for the Mega Millions will take place on Friday 30 December at 11pm ET. Mega Millions drawings are held every Tuesday and Friday at 11pm.
