Ninth-Largest Jackpot Win In Mega Millions History, $560 Million, Possible Tuesday Night

This Mega Millions train isn’t slowing down. There were no grand-prize winners in the most recent drawing, for a possible $522 million on Friday, and that inflated the jackpot in Tuesday night’s drawing to an estimated $560 million.

If a ticketholder goes a perfect 6-for-6, it will be the ninth-largest win in the 22-year history of the Mega Millions lottery.

The jackpot has been building since a New Jersey player won on March 26, a streak of 19 straight draws without a grand-prize winner, enabling that top prize to reach 28 times its $20 million starting amount.

Meanwhile, Powerball is on a run of 12 straight draws without a jackpot winner since a Florida player hit it big on May 6, bringing the estimated jackpot for Wednesday to $185 million.

The respective cash value estimates, should a winner opt to take a lump-sum payment rather than an annuity, are $258.4 million for Mega Millions and $86 million for Powerball.

Those elusive gold and red balls

The winning numbers in Friday’s Mega Millions drawing were 4, 11, 23, 33, and 49, with the 23 coming up again on the gold Mega Ball.

One player, in California, paired their numbers with all five white balls but did not double-dip on the 23 with the Mega Ball, thus earning a prize of $1 million before taxes.

In total, 914,572 tickets won some sort of prize in Friday’s draw, among, according to Lottery Geeks’ estimates, a shade under 22 million tickets purchased.

Powerball also featured a single million-dollar winner in its most recent drawing, on Monday. The winning numbers were 19, 29, 35, 36, and 45, with a red Powerball of 16, and a player in Connecticut went 5-for-5 on the white balls but missed the red one.

Tickets for either lottery cost $2, and for an extra $1, customers in most states can play the multiplier, which increases payouts for all non-grand-prize wins.

Both Powerball and Mega Millions 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