CHICAGO - The Mega Millions jackpot topped $1 billion this week — and continues to grow — ahead of Friday night’s drawing.
It now stands as the second-highest prize in the game’s history, as currently estimated. The lottery grand prize on Thursday reached an estimated $1.1 billion with a $648.2 million cash option after hitting $1.02 billion on Wednesday.
Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot is also the nation’s third-largest lottery prize ever. A $1.586 billion Powerball game in 2016 was split between the buyers of three winning tickets, and a $1.54 billion Mega Millions prize in 2018 went to the buyer of a single ticket.The latest jackpot has grown so large because no one has matched the game’s six selected numbers since April 15.
That’s 29 consecutive drawings without a big winner.FILE - A customer's Mega Millions come out of the lottery printing machine at the 7-Eleven on Chino Hills Parkway in Chino Hills on July 27, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images) Tuesday night’s numbers, which were 07-29-60-63-66, and the Mega Ball 15, did bring some second and third prize winners.