Mega Millions jackpot cracks the top 10 largest

The Mega Millions jackpot is closing in on rare territory. The next drawing for this popular multi-state game, set for Friday, 7/17 at 11 p.m. ET, carries an estimated jackpot of $672 million, with a cash option of $293.3 million. Win it, and the ticket holder wouldn't just take home a fortune. They'd bump the game's all-time top 10 list.

How big is $672 million, really?

Context helps. The 10th-largest Mega Millions jackpot in history sits at $656 million, split three ways back in 2012. Friday's estimated prize clears that mark. A single winning ticket at $672 million would slide straight into the top 10, pushing that 2012 jackpot out.
That's the headline. But it's worth asking: how does a game get to the point where $672 million is merely knocking on the door of the top 10, instead of blowing the doors off?

The billion-dollar club

Mega Millions has handed out 39 jackpots north of $300 million since the game launched in 2002. Seven of those topped $1 billion, and no two happened in the same state:

• $1.602 billion: Florida, August 8, 2023 (the record)
• $1.537 billion: South Carolina, October 23, 2018
• $1.348 billion: Maine, January 13, 2023
• $1.337 billion: Illinois, July 29, 2022
• $1.269 billion: California, December 27, 2024
• $1.128 billion: New Jersey, March 26, 2024
• $1.050 billion: Michigan, January 22, 2021

Seven billion-dollar jackpots, seven different jurisdictions. No state has repeated. That spread is part of what makes Mega Millions Mega Millions: the odds are long, but the winners keep turning up in new places.

Rounding out the top 10 are two more nine-figure prizes: $983 million, won in Georgia in November 2025, and $810 million, won in Texas in September 2024.

Did you know? Mega Millions edition

Mega Millions produced a winner in its very first drawing. On May 17, 2002, a $28 million jackpot was hit in Illinois. A second jackpot fell just one week later, meaning the game crowned two winners in its first three drawings.

Since then, 226 jackpots have been claimed by 253 individual tickets. Twenty-two of those jackpots were split by two or more winners.

Winners keep coming

The year is already producing big lottery winners. On March 10, 2026, an anonymous player in Illinois claimed $536 million ($245.6 million cash) on a ticket bought online through the Illinois Lottery. A week later, on March 17, the Happy Trails Trust won $60 million ($27.1 million cash) with a ticket purchased in Van Wert, Ohio.

Friday's drawing adds another chapter. Whether $672 million becomes number 10 on the all-time list, or grows into something bigger, depends on what happens at 11 p.m. ET.