News writer
Could August go out with a bang for one lucky Mega Millions player? It could, if someone wins tonight's huge $627 million jackpot.
The ninth-largest jackpot ever
After no tickets matched all six of the winning numbers drawn on Tuesday night — the white balls were 16, 18, 21, 54, and 65, and the Mega Ball was 5 — the estimated jackpot jumped up to $627 million ($309.1 million cash) for the Friday, August 30, drawing.
While the amount is definitely something to celebrate, it's also a time to celebrate the ninth time in Mega Millions history that the jackpot has surpassed $600 million since the game began in 2002.
Winning tickets keep rising, too
While no one has been able to cash in and win that jackpot, lottery officials did say that the number of winning tickets at all other prize levels have been increasing. For the August 27 drawing, there were a total of 1.2 million winning tickets.
Two of those winning tickets, both sold in South Carolina, matched all five of the white balls to win the game's second-tier prize. One of the tickets is worth $2 million, as the winner included the optional Megaplier, which was 2X on Tuesday night. The other winning ticket wins the standard $1 million second prize.
For the third-tier prize of $10,000, there were 30 tickets that matched all four white balls plus the Mega Ball. Of those tickets, ten of them are worth $20,000 each because they also included the Megaplier option. The other 20 will take home the standard $10,000 prize each.
Growing since June 4
The last Mega Millions jackpot win came on June 4 when an online player in Illinois won the $552 million jackpot that night. Since then, we have seen 24 drawings in this current jackpot run.
During those 24 drawings, there have been more than 16 million winning tickets across all non-jackpot prize tiers. Those winning tickets include 47 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, which have been won in 22 different jurisdictions from coast to coast, including Arizona, California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
In 2024, we have seen only two Mega Millions jackpots being won. Of course, the $552 million jackpot in June to the Illinois player and then the $1.13 billion jackpot, which was won by a player in New Jersey in March.
Six jackpots greater than $1 billion
Did you know that Mega Millions is the only lottery game that has produced six jackpots that have been greater than $1 billion?
It's true, and it just so happens that each of those jackpots was won in different states, so we are sharing the love. Those jackpots were won in South Carolina in 2018, Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine in 2023, Florida in 2023, and New Jersey in March 2024.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot ever goes to the Florida winner in 2023, which won the $1.6 billion jackpot.
Drawings for Mega Millions take place at 11 p.m. ET on Tuesdays and Fridays. The odds of winning any Mega Millions prize is 1 in 24. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302.58 million.
Enjoy playing the lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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