Mega Millions Jackpot Enters Record Territory, Next Drawing Tonight

Posted on: August 27, 2024, 09:41h. 

Last updated on: August 27, 2024, 09:47h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

The Mega Millions jackpot has arrived on the game’s top 10 richest prizes list.

Mega Millions jackpot lottery
A lottery ticket vending machine offering Mega Millions is seen inside an Illinois convenience store. The Mega Millions jackpot for Tuesday night’s drawing is an estimated $575 million. (Image: AP)

Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing at 11 p.m. ET from the Georgia Lottery’s draw studio in Atlanta comes with an advertised jackpot of $575 million. That ranks No. 9 on the Mega Millions top jackpots list.

The August 27 annuitized jackpot features a one-time cash option of an estimated $285.5 million. Both prizes are before federal, and possibly, state taxes.

Mega Millions has gone 23 consecutive drawings without a ticket matching the five white balls and gold Mega Ball. That isn’t necessarily surprising, as each ticket’s odds of hitting the jackpot are stagnant at a dismal one in more than 302.5 million.

However, the likelihood of a jackpot being won improves slightly as more tickets are sold because more possible number combinations of the 302,575,350 unique sequences are covered.

During the Mega Millions August 23 drawing, two tickets matched all five white balls for $1 million prizes. One of those tickets purchased the optional $1 Megaplier, which tripled the payout to $3 million after the Megaplier landed on 3x.

Slow Year

Of the many millions of Mega Millions tickets sold this year, only two have matched their drawing’s six winning numbers.

On March 26, a ticket sold in New Jersey matched the five white balls and gold Mega Ball to claim a $1.128 billion jackpot. That ticket still hasn’t been redeemed. Lottery players in New Jersey have up to a year to come forward.

On June 4, a ticket sold in Illinois won an annuitized jackpot worth $552 million — the 10th largest Mega Millions prize in the game’s history.

Mega Millions debuted in 1996 as The Big Game. It rebranded to The Big Game Mega Millions before assuming its current identity in 2003.

Because Mega Millions’ jackpot odds are longer than rival Powerball’s jackpot odds of approximately one in 292.2 million, Mega Millions has grown more jackpots upwards of $1 billion. Since 2018, Mega Millions has produced six jackpots greater than $1 billion.

Powerball has produced five 10-digit, before-tax jackpots, including the nation’s all-time largest, a $2.04 billion bounty won by a player in California in 2022.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states plus Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands. Tickets cost $2, with most participating jurisdictions providing an optional $1 add-on Megaplier that allows winning tickets to multiply their nonjackpot prizes.

Texas on Notice

Along with hyping its $575 million jackpot for Tuesday night’s drawing, Mega Millions officials are telling players in Texas to check their previous plays. A winning ticket from the March 19 drawing worth $1 million is approaching its expiration date of Sunday, September 15.

Anyone who purchased a Mega Millions ticket at the All-Season Food convenience store in Houston located at 3411 Antoine Drive is encouraged to review their ticket slips. The ticket in question matched all five white balls (24-46-49-62-66) but missed the gold Mega Ball of 7 to claim Mega Millions’ second-best prize of $1 million.

The lucky player who purchased the ticket didn’t opt for the $1 Megaplier, which would have doubled the win to $2 million.