Jordan Karlesson
If you freaked out over the Mega Millions jackpot rising to $630 million, you need a bigger piggy bank.
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The pot grew from $630 million last week to a ludicrous $1.025 billion this week, according to the Mega Millions website. That’s the third-biggest Mega Millions jackpot in history, for those of you keeping score at home.
And a lot of you Mega Millions participants probably are. With truckloads upon truckloads of tickets sold, the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million, per NPR.
The $1.025 billion jackpot is nearly as large as the $1.050 billion windfall a Michigan ticket buyer won in January 2021. The record is $1.537 billion, which a ticket holder in South Carolina won in October 2018.
Someone could the $1.025 billion jackpot soon, as the drawing is scheduled for Friday at 11 p.m. ET.
Unless no one matches the winning numbers again, that is.
Just like last Tuesday, no one claimed the six winning Mega Millions numbers yesterday: 7, 29, 60, 63, 66, plus the gold Mega Ball 15. After that happened, the pot rose to $630 million.
Mega Millions Website Breaks As People Try To Break The Bank
MegaMillions.com reported its highest traffic ever after yesterday’s drawing. As a result, its website broke for two hours last night.
Ohio Lottery Director Pat McDonald, Lead Director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said they’re thrilled about the growing jackpot.
“Seeing the jackpot build over a period of months and reaching the billion-dollar mark is truly breathtaking,” McDonald said in a statement. “We encourage customers to keep play in balance and enjoy the ride. Someone is going to win.”
Friday’s drawing will be the 13th one for this jackpot. Its run started April 19, the Mega Millions website said.
“The jackpot … was last won at $20 million in Tennessee on April 15,” the MegaMillions website noted. “Three other Mega Millions jackpots have been won to date in 2022: $426 million in California on January 28, $128 million in New York on March 8, and $110 million in Minnesota on April 12. That was Minnesota’s very first Mega Millions jackpot win!”
Mega Millions also offers what is called a “Cash Option.” If the winner opts for that instead of the jackpot, they would take home $602.5 million in cash versus the jackpot.
