The Mega Millions jackpot has snowballed to a cool $825 million, making it the seventh largest in the game’s history with just days to go before the holidays.
Not a single lotto participant nabbed a ticket with all six numbers pulled Tuesday night, pushing the pot into record-breaking territory. They were 56, 66, 67, 68 and 69, and Mega Ball 18.
It marked the 14th straight week without a big winner, stretching all the way back to September 10, when a prize of $394 million was claimed by a player in Texas.
The drawing did however yield “1,602,721 winning tickets across all non-jackpot prize levels,” five of which matched all five white balls” for a $1 million prize, Mega Millions said in a press release on Wednesday.
One of the tickets, which was purchased in North Carolina, is worth 4 million because it included the optional Megaplier — available for an extra $1 — which was at 4X Tuesday night. Another two winning tickets were sold in California and two more were sold in Louisiana and Oklahoma.
“Around the country, 55 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize,” Mega Millions said. “Seventeen of those are worth $40,000 each because they also included the optional Megaplier; the other 38 take home the standard $10,000 each. ”
The next draw is scheduled for Friday. Should a ticketholder match all six numbers pulled, they’ll claim a $825 million jackpot, which comes with a lump-sum cash option estimated to be worth $382.2 million. A win would make them just the third person to nab the jackpot in 2024, marking the fewest won in any single year since the game began.
It would also “be the largest prize ever won in December and the seventh largest in Mega Millions history!” the lottery said.
As it now stands, just 13 people have claimed the jackpot in the month of December, though no one has ever snagged the prize on Christmas day.
The biggest Mega Millions pot ever, a whopping $1.602 billion, was won in August of last year. The winning ticket was purchased in Neptune, Fla.