After no one matched all six numbers in Tuesday night’s drawing, the jackpot for Friday’s drawing now stands at $970 million, or $716.3 million cash. It is for the third time in history that the Mega Millions jackpot is about to mark its height near $1 billion and the second time in the game’s history!
Why did it reach that high, you ask?
Because there hasn’t been a winner since the mid of September 2020 – that is almost four months and 36 consecutive drawings without a winner.
The $970 million payouts would be the second-largest Mega Million, after the $1.54 billion bonanza that was won in 2018. Based on the past multi-state lottery jackpots, the estimate may get much bigger by the time the drawing occurs on Friday night!
On Tuesday, the winning number was 10, 19, 26, 28, and 50 plus gold Mega Ball 16, which was, unfortunately, not matched with anyone’s number. The Megaplier number was 2.
However, eleven tickets still match five white balls to win at least $1 million. In this, two of those sold in Florida, won $2 million as they included an optional Megaplier purchase.
The game is likely to sport a jackpot of greater than a billion dollars by Friday.
According to the lottery officials, this is the longest stretch without a Mega Millions jackpot winner. The last time there was a jackpot winner was of $120 million on Sept. 15 by a Wisconsin player.
Mega Million tickets are sold in 44 states along with Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
On the other hand, the Powerball lottery jackpot has now gone up to an estimated $730 million, for which the winning numbers will be drawn on Wednesday night. This is the first time that both the lotteries have topped $700 million simultaneously.
The chances of winning a jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million for Mega Millions and 1 in 292.2 million for Powerball.
The number of customers of ticket sales over the next few days is going to go higher than ever before, so be sure to get your masks on and keep the distance because we don’t want the pandemic to last any longer now!
Or, you guys can buy lottery tickets online as well – that is a good option as well if you want to stay safe and get your tickets from the comfort of your home.
The following are ten of the biggest Mega Million jackpots ever, along with where the tickets were purchased:
- $1.54 billion – one winning ticket in South Carolina in October 2018.
- $656 million – three winning tickets in Kansas, Illinois, and Maryland in March 2012.
- $648 million – two winning tickets in Georgia and California in December 2013
- $615 million – it is not known if there were any winners in January 2021
- $543 million – one winning ticket in California in July 2018
- $536 million – one winning ticket in Indiana in July 2016
- $533 million – one winning ticket in New Jersey in March 2018
- $522 million – one winning ticket in California in June 2019
- $451 million – one winning ticket in Florida in January 2018
- $437 million – one winning ticket in New York in January 2019
The following are the top 20 United States Powerball lottery jackpots ever:
- Powerball: $1.5864 billion on Jan. 13, 2016, in California, Florida, Tennessee
- Powerball: $768.4 million, Mar. 27, 2019 (25 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – Wisconsin
- Powerball: $758.7 million, Aug. 23, 2017 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – Massachusetts
- Powerball: $730 million, Jan. 20, 2021 (35 rollovers, starting at $20 million) – Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- Powerball: $687.8 million, Oct. 27, 2018 (21 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – Iowa, New York
- Powerball: $590.5 million, May 18, 2013 (13 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – Florida
- Powerball: $587.5 million, Nov. 28, 2012 (15 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – Arizona, Missouri
- Powerball: $564.1 million, Feb. 11, 2015 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas
- Powerball: $559.7 million, Jan. 6, 2018 (20 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – New Hampshire
- Powerball: $487 million, Jul. 30, 2016 (23 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – New Hampshire
- Powerball: $456.7 million, Mar. 17, 2018 (19 rollovers, starting at $15 million) – Pennsylvania
- Powerball: $448.4 million, Aug. 7, 2013 (12 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
- Powerball: $447.8 million, Jun. 10, 2017 (19 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – California
- Powerball: $435.3 million, Feb. 22, 2017 (18 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – Indiana
- Powerball: $429.6 million, May 7, 2016 (18 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – New Jersey
- Powerball: $425.3 million, Feb. 19, 2014 (15 rollovers, starting at $40 million) – California
Here are the top 25 cash value jackpots – a good sign of what a winning ticket might be worth.
- Powerball: $983.5 million cash (Jan. 13, 2016) in California, Florida, Tennessee
- Mega Millions: $877.8 million cash, Oct. 23, 2018, in South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $716.3 million cash, Jan. 22, 2021, not won yet
- Powerball: $546 million cash, Jan. 20, 2021, not won yet
- Powerball: $480.5 million cash, Aug. 23, 2017, in Massachusetts
- Powerball: $476.9 million cash, Mar. 27, 2019, in Wisconsin
- Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, in Illinois, Kansas, and Maryland
- Powerball: $396.2 million cash, Oct. 27, 2018, in Iowa, and New York
- Powerball: $384.7 million cash, Nov. 28, 2012, in Arizona and Missouri
- Powerball: $381.1 million cash, Feb. 11, 2015, in North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and Texas
- Mega Millions: $378 million cash, Jul. 8, 2016, in Indiana
- Powerball: $370.9 million cash, May 18, 2013, in Florida
- Powerball: $352 million cash, Jan. 6, 2018, in New Hampshire
- Mega Millions: $347.6 million cash, Dec. 17, 2013, in California, and Georgia
- Mega Millions: $340 million cash, Jun. 7, 2019, in California
- Powerball: $336.8 million cash, Jul. 30, 2016, in New Hampshire
- Mega Millions: $324 million cash, Mar. 30, 2018, in New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $320.5 million cash, Jul. 24, 2018, in California
- Mega Millions: $319.9 million cash, Jun. 9, 2020 in Arizona
- Powerball: $284 million cash, May 7, 2016, in New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $281.9 million cash, Jan. 5, 2018, in Florida
- Powerball: $279.1 million cash, Jun. 10, 2017, in California
- Powerball: $276.5 million cash, Jan. 29, 2020, in Florida
- Powerball: $273.9 million cash, Mar. 17, 2018, in Pennsylvania
- Powerball: $263.5 million cash, Feb. 22, 2017, in Indiana