In a thrilling turn of events, the Mega Millions® lottery is set to offer a colossal jackpot of over one billion dollars for the fifth time ever! Following the latest draw on Friday night, where no ticket managed to match all six numbers – 5, 10, 28, 52, and 63 for the white balls, along with 18 for the gold Mega Ball – the estimated jackpot has skyrocketed to a staggering $1.05 billion, with a cash option of $527.9 million. This incredible prize is up for grabs in the upcoming Tuesday, August 1 drawing, making it the fourth-largest Mega Millions jackpot in history.
The current jackpot has grown progressively since its last win on April 18 in New York. Tuesday's drawing will mark the 30th consecutive drawing in this ongoing run, adding to the excitement and anticipation among players nationwide.
As the jackpot continues to surge, there has been a notable increase in the number of prizes awarded across the other eight prize tiers. In the most recent draw on July 28, 3,157,597 tickets secured wins in various tiers. Of these, 586,903 tickets opted for the Megaplier (available in most states with an additional $1 purchase), boosting all standard non-jackpot prizes by 2x to 5x.
On Friday night, the Megaplier was an impressive 5x. At this extraordinary jackpot level, it's a remarkable event since a 5x Megaplier has never been drawn under the current Mega Millions matrix and Megaplier configuration that has been in place since October 28, 2017. This means numerous prizes in the lower tiers have been multiplied by a factor of five.
Among the fortunate winners is a lucky player from Pennsylvania who matched the five white balls, earning a substantial $5 million prize – one of five tickets nationwide to claim the game's second-tier prize. Another ticket from Pennsylvania secured the standard $1 million prize in the July 28 drawing, along with tickets sold in Arizona, California, and New York.
Nationwide, an impressive 92 tickets correctly matched four white balls along with the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Of these, 14 tickets, including the Megaplier, are worth $50,000 each, while the remaining 78 tickets receive the standard $10,000 each.
Since the last jackpot wins on April 18, more than 26.4 million winning tickets have been sold at all non-jackpot prizes, with prizes ranging from $2 up to an astounding $5 million. Among these wins are 46 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, spread across 22 different jurisdictions nationwide, including states like Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin.
The year started with an extraordinary start, with six jackpot winners emerging in less than four months – a noteworthy achievement considering it is typically what one might expect over an entire year. The first massive win of $1.348 billion occurred in Maine on January 13, marking the second-largest prize ever awarded in Mega Millions history. This remarkable start was followed by three quick jackpot wins, with 20 million won in New York on January 17, $33 million secured in Massachusetts on January 24, and Massachusetts repeating its triumph with another $31 million jackpot win just two drawings later. New York had two more wins, with jackpots of $483 million on April 14 and $20 million on April 18, becoming the first instance in Mega Millions history where two jackpots were won in the same state in consecutive drawings.
The ever-increasing jackpot has captured the nation's attention and as the Mega Millions drawing on Tuesday approaches, players from coast to coast will undoubtedly be holding their breaths, hoping to become the lucky winner of the historic billion-dollar jackpot.
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