News writer
The Mega Millions jackpot continues to grow, now standing at a jaw-dropping $579 million — making it the tenth largest jackpot in the game's history. While the jackpot remains up for grabs, three lucky players in Ohio and Wisconsin were able to score a cool $1 million each in last night's drawing — coming up one number short of winning the big jackpot.
With 2024 winding down, Mega Millions is shaping up to be a slower year for jackpot wins compared to last year. However, fewer jackpot wins mean bigger jackpot wins when they do hit.
Mega Millions drawing for December 3, 2024
Heading into last night's Mega Millions drawing, the jackpot stood at an estimated $541 million. The winning white ball numbers for last night's drawing were 52, 60, 61, 66, and 67, and the Mega Ball number was 23. The Megaplier for the drawing was 4X.
No tickets matched all of the winning numbers, so the jackpot climbed to $579 million for the next draw, which takes place on Friday, December 6, 2024.
Big wins in Ohio and Wisconsin
While there was no Mega Millions jackpot winner, there were three tickets that matched all five of the winning white ball numbers to win the game's second-tier prize of $1 million.
Two of those winning tickets were purchased at the same location in Ohio. The winning tickets were purchased at Buckeye Deli, located at 124 Millersburg St. in Nashville. One of the winning tickets was an auto-pick ticket, and the other had player-picked numbers, according to the Ohio Lottery.
The third $1 million-winning ticket was sold in Wisconsin, officials said.
A slow year for Mega Millions jackpot winners
The excitement is growing around that $579 million Mega Millions jackpot. However, it's wild to think that there have only been three jackpot winners for the year, with the last win coming on September 10, 2024.
Here is a look at all of the Mega Millions jackpots won for 2024:
- $800 million – Winning ticket purchased in Texas for the September 10 drawing.
- $560 million – Winning ticket purchased in Illinois for the June 4 drawing.
- $1.12 billion – Winning ticket purchased in New Jersey for the March 26 drawing, which has yet to be claimed by the winner.
Compared to 2023, this has been a slow year of jackpot winners for Mega Millions players. For 2023, there were ten jackpot winners claiming prizes:
- $1.35 billion – Winning ticket purchased in Maine for the January 13, 2023, drawing.
- $20 million – Winning ticket purchased in New York for the January 17, 2023, drawing.
- $33 million – Winning ticket purchased in Massachusetts for the January 24, 2023, drawing.
- $31 million – Winning ticket purchased in Massachusetts for the January 31, 2023, drawing.
- $483 million – Winning ticket purchased in New York for the April 14, 2023, drawing.
- $20 million – Winning ticket purchased in New York for the April 18, 2023, drawing.
- $1.6 billion – Winning ticket purchased in Florida for the August 8, 2023, drawing.
- $39 million – Winning ticket purchased in Florida for the August 15, 2023, drawing.
- $361 million – Winning ticket purchased in Texas for the October 6, 2023, drawing.
- $394 million – Two winning tickets, both purchased in California for the December 8, 2023, drawing.
As you can see, there were more winners in January 2023 than in all of 2024 so far. However, we have had huge jackpot wins in 2024, and there were some smaller jackpots in 2023, including back-to-back wins. So, the saying less is more definitely fits this topic.
Enjoy playing the lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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