The Mega Millions jackpot has soared to an estimated $1.35 billion after no lucky player won the lottery’s latest jackpot, estimated at $1.1 billion.
No ticket matched all six winning numbers: 7, 13, 14, 15, 18, plus the Mega Ball 9. The next jackpot is shaping up to be one for the history books, Mega Millions officials said.
“The jackpot has rolled again, keeping everyone who follows Mega Millions in suspense for yet another drawing,” Pat McDonald, the head of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement Wednesday morning. “Now at $1.35 billion, the Mega Millions jackpot is moving up and making history as the second highest Mega Millions jackpot ever.”
After 25 consecutive drawings over a span of nearly three months with no big-prize winners, the next drawing is set to take place in Atlanta later this week, on Friday the 13th.
If a single player manages to beat the 1-in-303 million odds and defy the supposed day of bad luck, they will have the option to receive either the full prize amount in an annuity paid over 29 years, or an estimated lump sum of $707.9 million in cash.
In its 20-year history, Mega Millions only had one prize larger than next Friday’s expected $1.35 billion: a $1.54 billion jackpot won by a single ticket in South Carolina in October 2018.
Over the summer, a winning Mega Million ticket sold in Illinois took home a whopping $1.34 billion. The winner of the largest-ever U.S. lottery prize was a Powerball player in California who won $2.04 billion in November.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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