Mega Millions Jackpot Crosses A Half-Billion Bucks For Friday’s Lottery Draw

For the 15th time in the 22-year history of the Mega Millions game, the jackpot has swollen to over $500 million.

Friday night’s drawing has an estimated jackpot of $522 million, which would be tied for the 12th largest grand prize awarded by Mega Millions if some lucky player scores it. The estimated cash option is $241.4 million.

The last time someone hit the jackpot was on March 26. Since then, 18 successive draws have failed to deliver a perfect six-for-six lottery ticket.

Adding to the weekend fun, Powerball’s Saturday jackpot is up to an estimated $161 million (cash value: $75.2 million), a far cry from the Mega Millions prize but still a decent bounty after 10 straight draws without a grand-prize winner.

Who wants to be a millionaire?

Neither of the mid-week draws, Tuesday’s Mega Millions or Wednesday’s Powerball, produced any million-dollar winners.

The winning Mega Millions numbers were 12, 18, 48, 57, and 62 with a gold Mega Ball of 4, and the largest prize anyone hauled in was $50,000 — scored by two players who hit four of five white balls and the gold Mega Ball and also played the Megaplier to multiply the $10K base prize 5x.

In all, 829,008 players won some sort of prize or at least got their money back. Lottery Geeks estimates 19.9 million tickets were sold for Tuesday’s draw with an estimated jackpot of $489 million. It will be interesting to see if that number rises substantially now that the prize has crossed the $500-million threshold.

As for the Powerball draw on Wednesday night with an estimated jackpot of $143 million, the winning numbers were 17, 34, 56, 60, and 61, with a red Powerball of 9.

The largest prize won was $100,000, by a player who matched everything but one white ball and played the Power Play multiplier, which landed on 2x.

Lottery Geeks estimates about 9.7 million tickets were purchased for that Powerball drawing.

Tickets for either lottery cost $2, with an option in most states to pay an extra $1 for the Power Play or Megaplier. Both lotteries are legal in every state except Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. Mega Millions tickets can also be purchased in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands, while Powerball is offered in Puerto Rico in addition to those two jurisdictions.

All-Time Biggest Jackpots

Here is a list of the all-time top 10 U.S. lottery jackpots:

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $1.76 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
3. $1.6 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
4. $1.59 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
5. $1.54 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
6. $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
7. $1.34 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
8. $1.33 billion, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
9. $1.13 billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024, won in New Jersey
10. $1.08 billion, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California

And here’s the all-time top 10 by lump-sum cash value:

1. $997.6 million, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $983.5 million, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
3. $877.8 million, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
4. $794.2 million, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
5. $780.5 million, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
6. $776.6 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021, won in Michigan
7. $774.1 million, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
8. $723.5 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
9. $621 million, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
10. $558.1 million, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California