Mega Millions Near-Miss Wins $1M Instead of Coveted $284M Jackpot

Mega Millions published the news on Sunday, confirming that a player had won $1 million in the latest draw with five correct numbers, but short of the six numbers needed to bag the $284 million prize pool instead.

The ticket matched the numbers for the Friday, May 3 drawing, but unfortunately did not guess the Mega Ball number of 11. The winning numbers for both the ticket and the big jackpot were 6, 13, 15, 53, and 56. Only one ticket came this close in the latest drawing, out of millions sold tickets.

Mega Millions also confirmed that 908,000 tickets in the United States won prizes ranging from as little as $2 to $20,000. The odds of winning the actual jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350 and a ticket to enter the event costs $2.

With the big prize missed out, this means that millionaire hopefuls will have the chance to try again to win the $306 million on Tuesday, May 7. The combined value of the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpot has now officially exceeded $500 million, meaning that the United States has much to look forward to in lottery prize draws.

The Powerball will be drawn on Monday, May 6, and offer a chance to make another player the winner tonight.

In the meantime, the current Mega Millions jackpot is still a far cry from its record in March last year, when a New Jersey player won the eye-watering $1.13 billion and opted to claim the full reward for a truly life-altering prize pool.