A few months after a lucky winner hit a record-breaking jackpot, another record Mega Millions jackpot is looming.
The jackpot has progressed since it last hit on Oct. 14, when tickets sold in California and Florida shared a $502 million prize.
This week, the estimated prize jumped to $565 million. The numbers have been drawn for the $565 million Mega Millions jackpot held on Tuesday, Dec. 27, but no ticket matched all six numbers.
The jackpot also came with a $293.6 million cash option.
No ticket sold for the $565 million Mega Millions jackpot
The winning numbers from Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing are: 9-13-36-59-61, and the gold Mega Ball was 11. The Megaplier was 2x.
According to the Mega Millions website, no ticket was sold matching all six winning numbers. But five tickets matched 5/6 numbers. In most states, those five tickets are worth $1 million – or $2 million with the Megaplier option.
As the grand prize in Tuesday’s drawing didn’t produce any winners, the jackpot is expected to climb to more than $640 million. The cash option would increase to at least $328.3 million.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington D.C., and the Virgin Islands. Each ticket costs $2 with nine ways to win a prize.
5/6 tickets sold in California
The California Lottery confirmed that two of those 5/6 tickets were sold in California. But the tickets are only worth $245,984. That’s because the state estimates prize amounts on a pari-mutuel basis, according to ticket sales and the number of winners.
The largest Mega Millions jackpots
This past July, a lucky player from Illinois hit a Mega Millions jackpot worth a whopping $1.337 billion. It was the third-largest U.S. lottery prize and wasn’t claimed for two months.
The top Mega Millions jackpots to date are as follows:
- $1.537 billion on 10/23/2018
- $1.337 billion on 7/29/2022
- $1.050 billion on 1/22/2021
- $656 million on 3/30/2012
- $648 million on 12/17/2013
- $565 million on 12/27/2022
- $543 million on 7/24/2018
- $536 million on 7/8/2016
- $533 million on 3/30/2018
- $522 million on 6/7/2019
Lottery officials said there had been at least 11 winning jackpots of $500 million since Mega Millions began in 2002.
Last month, a single winning Powerball ticket was purchased in California for a $2.04 billion jackpot, the largest in lottery history.
