The jackpot for tonight’s Mega Millions drawing has swelled to an estimated $735 million after the game’s grand prize has gone without a winner since December. The drawing for the winning numbers will be held at 11 p.m. EDT.
If someone matches the five white balls and gold Mega Ball on Tuesday night, they’ll win the game’s sixth-largest jackpot in its history. The winner will then have to choose between collecting the prize through an annuity or as a one-time lump-sum payment of over $350 million.
What are the top Mega Millions jackpots?
The top five Mega Millions jackpots are all over a billion dollars.
One ticket in Florida won the game’s biggest grand prize of $1.602 billion last year. A winning ticket in South Carolina captured the second-largest prize of $1.537 billion in 2018.
The third-largest prize of $1.348 billion was won last year in Maine. A slightly smaller sum — $1.337 billion — is the game’s fourth-largest prize, which was won in Illinois in 2022. A ticket bought in Michigan in 2021 collected the game’s fifth-highest prize of $1.050 billion.
What are the Mega Millions drawing days?
Mega Millions drawings are on Tuesdays and Fridays. Tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands for $2 each. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
The Powerball jackpot has also been growing. With no one matching the five white balls and red Powerball on Monday night, that game’s grand prize has increased to an estimated $559 million for its next drawing Wednesday night with an estimated cash option of $273.3 million.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
