Mega Millions Jackpot Grows to $1.15 Billion for Friday Night Drawing

(Lewiston, ID) The Mega Millions jackpot has swelled to an estimated $1.15 billion ($516.1 million cash) for the next drawing on Friday, December 27. According to lottery officials, if won at that level, it would be the fifth largest jackpot in the game’s history.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” said Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays – whether Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, or any other way people choose to celebrate the season – than by helping fulfill the dreams that come with a prize like this and prizes that will be won at all levels of the game.”

In the December 24 drawing, there were a total of 4,292,338 winning tickets across all non-jackpot prize levels. Four tickets matched the five white balls for the game’s second-tier prize; they were sold in California, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Wyoming.

Around the country, 106 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Thirteen of those are worth $30,000 each because they included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 3X Tuesday night; the other 93 take home the standard $10,000 each.

In the 30 drawings since the jackpot was last won at $810 million in Texas on September 10, there have been more than 25.7 million winning tickets across all prize tiers.

With only two more drawings this year, Mega Millions is on track to complete a second consecutive year with a very unusual jackpot roll pattern – indicative of the truly random nature of the game. The jackpot has been won only three times so far in 2024, the fewest wins in any single year since the game began in 2002. Yet just last year, there were 10 jackpots won, the most in a single year since a major matrix change in 2013.

Tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $2 each; in most jurisdictions, players can add the Megaplier for an additional $1 to multiply their non-jackpot prizes. Half of the proceeds from the sale of each Mega Millions ticket remains in the state where the ticket was sold, where the money supports designated good causes and retailer commissions.

Drawings are conducted at 8 p.m. Pacific Time.  The overall odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24; the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.

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