The Mega Millions jackpot made history Wednesday with an estimated $750 million in the lottery prize, making this the second-largest payout in the game’s history.
The announcement comes ahead of Friday’s drawing after no ticket holder came forward with matching numbers on Tuesday night. However, nine tickets matched five white balls to win the game’s second prize of least $1 million. Vendors sold the lottery tickets in Florida, California, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington.
The winning numbers in Tuesday night’s drawing of the Mega Millions game were: 12-14-26-28-33, Mega Ball: 09.
Nearly all jackpot winners take the cash option, which would be an estimated $550.6 million for Friday’s Mega Millions and $411.4 million for Wednesday’s Powerball.
Since last September, there hasn’t been a lottery winner who has held a ticket with six matching numbers when a ticket holder in Wisconsin won the $120 million prize.
After the Wisconsin resident won, there have been more than 25.5 million winning tickets sold at all prize levels.
Friday’s drawing will be the 35th in the current jackpot run, equaling the longest run in the game’s history.
The largest jackpot in Mega Millions history was $1.5 billion. A lucky ticket holder won that prize in South Carolina in 2019.
Your Odds Of Winning The Jackpot
Winners can choose between the $750 million annuity option, which gets awarded to the winner over 29 years. On the contrary, the winner can opt for the $550.6 million cash option, which pays an instant lump sum. Many winners choose the cash option, with about half of lottery winnings going towards tax payments.
When it comes to your odds of winning, the chances are 1 in 302,575,360 in the 45 states where it’s played.
Despite the steep odds, it doesn’t stop people from dreaming of big money.
The next winning numbers for the Mega Millions jackpot will be drawn on Friday at 10 p.m. CST.
