Mega Millions Jackpot Exceeds $600M for the 9th Time Ever

The Mega Millions thrill keeps on growing as fans have once again missed the elusive grand prize. As a result, the final jackpot of August is set to be a big one, Mega Millions officials announced.

The August 27 Drawing Crowned No Winner

As no one matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night, the jackpot kept on growing and is set to reach $627 million for the drawing on Friday, August 30. The lump cash value of the jackpot stands at approximately $309.1 million, providing life-changing opportunities to players.

This is notably only the ninth time the Mega Millions jackpot has exceeded $600 million since the game was launched in 2002.

While no one managed to match all six numbers, two tickets, both purchased in South Carolina, won huge prizes thanks to matching the five white balls. One of these players will take $1 million home, while the other will be eligible to claim twice as much since they had the Megaplier option active.

Megaplier, for context, works much like Powerball’s Powerplay, allowing players to pay $1 more for a chance to significantly increase their winnings. As one of the players had chosen this higher-risk, higher-reward option, they will take home $2 million instead of one.

Overall Mega Millions handed prizes to 1,202,189 winning players for the August 27 drawing. Game officials further reported that 30 tickets had matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball. 20 of these players will receive the standard $10,000 prize. The other ten had Megaplier active and will scoop up prizes of $20,000 each instead.

Mega Millions Continues to Change the Lives of Its Players

Mega Millions has only handed two jackpots in 2024. On June 4, a player from Illinois won $552 million.

Earlier this year, another lucky ticket from New Jersey secured the life-changing $1.128 billion jackpot, one of the largest jackpots in Mega Millions History. However, no one has claimed the prize yet, although NJ players have one year from the date of the drawing to claim their winnings.

Since the June win, the top prize was reset and has continued growing. In the 24 drawings in this jackpot run to date, there have been over 16 million winning tickets across non-jackpot prize tiers, Mega Millions reported. Additionally, a total of 47 players have won the second-tier prize of $1 million ($2 million in case they had Megaplier active).

Mega Millions prides itself on being the only lottery game to have ever produced six jackpots of over $1 billion. The game continues to provide players with a shot at huge prizes, attracting millions of Americans each year. The next drawing is set to take place on Friday, August 30, at 11 pm ET.