Mega Millions Grand Prize Soars, Hits $575 Million

Although many lottery players across the United States tried their luck, nobody was able to win the Mega Millions jackpot on Friday night. No lucky player matched the winning white balls 28, 30, 44, 66 and 69, in combination with the gold Mega ball number 2.

After the latest draw didn’t see a winner, the jackpot now continues to grow, inching closer to the staggering $600 million. The next Mega Millions drawing is scheduled for Tuesday, August 27, 2024.

Considering the jackpot survived the last drawing, now, there will be $575 million up for grabs. As usual, the jackpot has a cash option, which if selected, would grant the fortunate player $285.5 million.

Last year in August, the largest Mega Millions jackpot was won. At the time, an incredibly fortunate player from Florida won the mind-blowing $1.602 billion jackpot.

In contrast, the estimated grand prize, if won on Tuesday, would mark the ninth-largest jackpot from the popular lottery game. Moreover, this month marks only the second time the Mega Millions jackpot has reached such a sum during August since the game started in 2002.

The overall odds of winning a prize from Mega Millions are 1 in 24. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.

Each ticket for the lottery game costs $2. An extra $1 grants the players a chance to multiply their non-jackpot prizes, an option known as Megaplier.

Many Lucky Players Won Non-jackpot Prizes

While nobody won the grand prize, two people were fortunate enough to match five winning numbers from Friday’s draw. Thanks to the Megaplier option, one ticket in Tennessee won $3 million, considering the Megaplier option was 3X on the latest draw. The second fortunate player, a person from Texas, won the standard $1 million prize by matching five numbers.

Separately, a total of 26 players matched four winning numbers along with the Mega Ball number from the most recent drawing. From that total, five players paid extra for a Megaplier and received $30,000 each, while the remaining 21 players won the standard prize of $10,000 each.

Matching four winning numbers granted prizes to more than 500 players. A total of 129 fortunate lottery players won a $1,500 Megaplier prize, while 438 took home $500 each.

Considering the size of the grand prize, more people tried their luck in the latest Mega Millions draw. Consequently, it’s no surprise that a total of 1,025,239 tickets won prizes. This result marked an uptick when compared to the 945,000 winning tickets recorded earlier this month.