The Mega Millions jackpot is nearly the largest it has ever been. The lotto announced Saturday the jackpot for the game is now $600 million for just the fourth time ever. Since nobody matched all six numbers in the last drawing Friday night, the next drawing on Tuesday will be one of the biggest-ever. In fact, Tuesday’s drawing will be the fourth-largest Mega Millions haul ever, and the largest since 2018’s record-setting $1.537 billion jackpot.
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For those opting for the lump-sum payment, the jackpot will be reduced to $442.4 million.
Though nobody won the overall jackpot on Friday, the game still paid out to 2,573,546 winners at various levels throughout the game of chance — including five prizes to those who matched five of the six white balls. Those winners were in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. Each winner walked away with $1,000,000 in pre-tax cash saved for the New York ticket, which had the optional Megaplier. With the option, the winner won $2 million.
“The first time the game passed the $600 million threshold was on March 30, 2012, when a $656 million prize was split between winners in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland,” Mega Million’s Saturday press release reads. “At the time, it was a world record for a lotto jackpot game. On December 17, 2013, winners in California and Georgia shared a $648 million jackpot. And on October 23, 2018, an incredible $1.537 billion prize was won in South Carolina – the world’s largest lotto jackpot ever awarded on a single ticket.”
The statement adds, “The Mega Millions jackpot was won five times in 2020, with two states getting their first-ever jackpot win in the game: Arizona, which took the largest prize of the year at $414 million on June 9, and Wisconsin, where a lucky winner won $120 million on September 15. Two 2020 jackpots were won in New Jersey: $202 million on February 11 and $123 million on July 24. And on July 31, a California winner took home a $22 million prize.”
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