Mega Millions jackpot exceeds $1 billion, now 4th-largest in game’s history
(NEXSTAR) – The current Mega Millions jackpot is now tied for the fourth-largest in the game’s history after yet another drawing produced no grand-prize winners.
Friday’s winning numbers — 5, 10, 28, 52, 63, and Mega Ball 18 — went unmatched, continuing a 29-drawing trend that began after the last jackpot-winner was announced on April 18.
The current jackpot now stands at an estimated $1.05 billion, with a cash option of $527.9 million. That amount officially qualifies as the fourth-largest grand prize in Mega Millions history, tied with a jackpot awarded in Jan. 2021.
Largest Mega Millions jackpots | Date |
$1.537 billion | 10/23/2018 |
$1.348 billion | 1/13/2023 |
$1.337 billion | 7/29/2022 |
$1.050 billion | 1/22/2021 |
$1.050 billion (estimated) | 8/1/2023 |
$656 million | 3/30/2012 |
$648 million | 12/17/2013 |
$543 million | 7/24/2018 |
$536 million | 7/8/2016 |
$533 million | 3/30/2018 |
The current jackpot has steadily grown since April, after a ticketholder in New York matched all six numbers to win a $20-million prize. (The previous jackpot, awarded days before on April 14, was worth $483 million.) A total of 46 players, meanwhile, have won second-tier prizes worth $1 million or more since the last jackpot was won, the Mega Millions lottery confirmed in a press release.
Friday night’s drawing produced five of those second-tier winners, including one each in Arizona, California and New York, and two in Pennsylvania. One of the winning ticketholders in Pennsylvania had also purchased the Megaplier option (which multiplied Friday’s winnings by five times), making that ticket worth $5 million.
“In the current Mega Millions matrix and Megaplier configuration, which has been in place since October 28, 2017, there has never been a Megaplier of 5x drawn at this extraordinary jackpot level,” reads a portion of the Mega Millions press release. “That means a lot of prizes in other tiers have been multiplied by a factor of five!”
The next Mega Millions drawing is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 1.