Mega Millions climbs to $640 million after no Tuesday winner
FILE - A man buys Mega Millions lottery tickets on July 29, 2022, in New York City. (Photo by John Smith/VIEWpress)
The Mega Millions end-of-the-year jackpot has climbed to an estimated $640 million after no ticket matched all six numbers that were drawn on Tuesday night.
The jackpot also comes with a $328.3 million cash option and could provide a lucky winner "with a very happy New Year’s celebration," lottery officials teased.
The next drawing is Friday, Dec. 30 at 11 p.m. ET.
Since Mega Millions began in May 2002, there have been 11 winning jackpots of $500 million or more, including three that topped $1 billion. The record Mega Millions jackpot is $1.537 billion, won in South Carolina in October 2018.
Last night’s Mega Millions numbers
Tuesday night’s numbers were white balls 9, 13, 36, 59, and 61, plus the gold Mega Ball 11.
Five tickets, sold in California, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi, matched the five white balls to win the Mega Millions second prize of $1 million.
Another 44 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the game’s third prize of $10,000 for each winner. Three of those tickets were actually worth $20,000 each because they also included the optional Megaplier — a $1 extra purchase available in most states — which was 2X on Tuesday 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.