News writer, Interviewer
Two massive jackpots. One weekend. Are you ready?
The Mega Millions jackpot just jumped to $980 million for tonight's drawing. Add in Powerball's $546 million prize on Saturday, and you're looking at a combined $1.5 billion up for grabs. When was the last time we saw numbers like this?
Mega Millions reaches $980 million
Tonight's Mega Millions drawing carries an estimated $980 million annuity prize, or $452.2 million cash. If someone wins at this level, it becomes the eighth-largest jackpot in the game's history.
Only seven Mega Millions jackpots have ever topped $1 billion. This one's knocking on the door. The drawing happens tonight at 11 p.m. Eastern time in Atlanta. You can watch the results on the Mega Millions website shortly after.
How did we get here?
The jackpot has been rolling since June 27, 2025, when a ticket in Virginia hit the grand prize. That's 40 consecutive drawings without a winner (the longest run in Mega Millions history).
But here's the thing: plenty of people are winning something. The November 11 drawing produced 809,030 winning tickets across all prize tiers. Over the current jackpot run, nearly 13.2 million tickets have won prizes ranging from $10 to $5 million.
Not everyone walks away empty-handed.
Powerball keeps growing
Saturday's Powerball drawing offers an estimated $546 million annuity, or $255.6 million cash. Combined with tonight's Mega Millions prize, that's $1.5 billion in total jackpots this weekend.
The last Powerball jackpot win came back in September, when tickets purchased in Texas and Missouri split the $1.79 billion jackpot. This was the second biggest Powerball jackpot in the game's history.
Two chances. Two different games. One historic weekend.
The odds and the history
Your odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot sit at 1 in 290,472,336. The odds of winning any prize are 1 in 23.
Mega Millions holds the record for producing seven jackpots over $1 billion. The largest was a $1.602 billion prize won in Florida on August 8, 2023.
Seven different states have produced billion-dollar winners: South Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, Maine, Florida, New Jersey, and California.
What you need to know
Mega Millions tickets cost $5 each. Every ticket includes a randomly assigned multiplier that can multiply non-jackpot prizes by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, or 10X.
You can play in 45 states, Washington D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Half of every ticket sale stays in the state where you bought it, funding designated programs and retailer commissions.
The countdown begins
Tonight's drawing represents the 40th consecutive drawing without a jackpot winner. The prize has climbed steadily since starting at $50 million on July 1.
This is the largest Mega Millions jackpot since that $1.269 billion prize won in California last December. Will tonight be different?
Check your tickets after the drawing. Even if you don't hit the jackpot, eight other prize tiers are waiting. Millions of tickets have already won prizes during this run.
The $1.5 billion weekend starts now.
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