Are You Feeling Lucky? Mega Millions Jackpot Hits Record High of $1.6 Billion
Who wants to be a billionaire?!
While thousands of people across America were likely disappointed to find out they hadn’t won Friday’s Mega Millions $1 billion jackpot, there is an upside: the prize money is just going up.
By Tuesday, Oct. 23, when a new set of winning numbers will be drawn, the prize will be have reached at least $1.6 billion, a record high for lotteries in the U.S., according to a press release from Mega Millions.
The previous high was set in January 2016, after three luckily winners split a $1.59 billion Powerball prize, according to ABC News.
“We’re in unchartered territory,” Gordon Medenica, Mega Millions lead director and the director of Maryland Lottery and Gaming, told Good Morning America on Saturday, adding that the amount of money “could go up even further” before then.
For instance, between Tuesday night and Friday night, the jackpot raised its value by over $400 million, according to CNN.
Should a single ticket holder win big next week and choose to take the money in a one-time lump sum, they’ll walk away with about $905 million. They can also choose to receive a smaller annual sum over a 26-year period.
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Although nobody won the big bucks on Friday, there were still a handful of lucrative prizes handed out.
Fifteen lucky ticket holders walked away with at least $1 million for matching every number except for the Mega Ball in the drawing.
The highest number of winning tickets came from New York (four), while Illinois, Texas and Virginia each claimed two second-tier prizes. Winning tickets were also purchased in California, Florida, Missouri, New Hampshire and New Jersey.
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This current Mega Millions jackpot has been on the rise all summer. Twenty-five drawings have been held since July 24, when a group of 11 co-workers in California split their winnings of $543 million.
The second-highest Mega Millions jackpot was won in March 2012, when winners in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland split the $656 million prize.
The next Mega Millions drawing will be on Oct. 23 at 11 p.m.
