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The Mega Millions jackpot is on the move again, and lottery fans across the country are watching closely. Friday night's drawing came and went without a jackpot winner, pushing the prize pool into record-breaking territory for 2025.
With hundreds of millions now up for grabs, excitement is building around just how high the jackpot could climb this time. Could this run rival some of the biggest lottery moments we've seen this year, or maybe even crack the billion-dollar mark?
No jackpot win on Friday
The latest Mega Millions drawing on Friday, September 19, 2025, produced no jackpot winners. With no tickets matching all of the winning numbers, the jackpot now climbs to $451 million, with a cash option of $208.7 million.
The winning white ball numbers for Friday were 2, 22, 27, 42, and 58, and the Mega Ball was 8. In addition to no jackpot winners, there were also no Match 5 winners.
The highest payout for this drawing happened to be eight tickets matching four of the five white ball numbers plus the Mega Ball. Three tickets included a 3X multiplier to win $30,000, while five tickets included a 2X multiplier to win $20,000.
Biggest jackpot of the year
Back in April, Mega Millions officials made the biggest changes to the game since 2017. Among those changes was an increase in the ticket price from $2 to $5, but each play would now include a multiplier, ranging from 2X up to 10X.
Mega Millions players also saw the starting jackpot increased to $50 million, plus the new game featured 24 Mega Balls instead of the old 25.
These changes not only improve the overall odds of winning the jackpot from 1 in 302.6 million to 1 in 290.5 million, but they also aim to promote bigger jackpots and prizes.
The changes seem to be working, as we have arrived at the biggest jackpot available in 2025. The biggest Mega Millions jackpot won so far in 2025 was $348 million on June 27, which happened to be the biggest jackpot win ever in the state of Virginia.
Now we see that the Mega Millions jackpot has climbed almost up to $500 million, so we will have the biggest jackpot won in 2025 by the time this jackpot run ends.
How does Mega Millions compare to Powerball in 2025?
In 2025, Mega Millions has seen four jackpot winners, with the highest being the $348 million jackpot won in Virginia.
Comparing Mega Millions to Powerball, we have seen five jackpot wins for Powerball players in 2025. Of those jackpot wins, the biggest Powerball jackpot of 2025 was the most recent jackpot run, which produced a $1.79 billion jackpot that was split by winning tickets in Texas and Missouri.
Clearly, Powerball has the bigger jackpot of 2025, but this current Mega Millions jackpot run is still ongoing. Maybe it can get to the billion-dollar status?
Enjoy playing the lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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