A billion dollars might be the perfect way to start the new year.
No one won the big prize on Christmas Eve when the last Mega Millions drawing pushed the jackpot close to 10 digits, but now the prize has ballooned to at least $1.15 billion, making it the fifth largest draw in the game’s history. This is a large prize.
The next drawing will be on Friday, and one lucky person will win a lump sum of $516 million, according to game organizers.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302 million, according to lottery organizers, and the last Mega Millions jackpot was won for $810 million in Texas on September 10. Mega Millions is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands.
Friday’s drawing is at 8 p.m.
Tickets that match all six numbers will take up to one year to claim their prize.
Last December, someone bought one of two winning Mega Millions tickets at a Chevron gas station in Encino for a prize of $197.5 million.
The person had a one-year deadline to claim his winnings, but that deadline has now passed and most of the winnings have been returned to other states that contributed to the pot, officials said, with some of the winnings going to California. It added that donations were also made to schools in the state.
In April, Mega Millions ticket prices will jump from $2 to $5. Game organizers say it increases the odds of winning, but have not provided details on how it will work.
The highest lottery prize ever won in the United States was won by a Californian in 2022, when Edwin Castro bought a $2 Powerball ticket at an Altadena gas station and won a $2.04 billion prize. won the jackpot. Since then, he has bought multi-million dollar homes in the Hollywood Hills and elsewhere.
