Mega Millions Has a Nearly $1B Gift Wrapped for Christmas Eve Drawing
- 23 Dec 2024
- Gambling News
The Christmas Eve Mega Millions jackpot could be the year's best present for the fortunate player who beats the odds of one in 302,575,350 by matching the five white balls and the gold Mega Ball on Tuesday night.
The Mega Millions jackpot has not been won since September 10, when a ticket purchased in Texas won an $810 million annuitized prize. During the next 29 drawings, the jackpot has accumulated to an estimated $944 million, with a lump-sum cash option of $429.4 million.
If the drawing on Tuesday night takes place at 11 p.m. EST from the Mega Millions drawing studio at the Georgia Lottery's headquarters in Atlanta identifies a winner, and the payout would be the largest lottery prize in December in US history. At $944 million, the jackpot ranks as the seventh-largest prize in Mega Millions history.
Winners of Friday
Mega Millions takes place two times a week, specifically on Tuesdays and Fridays. Last Friday, the numbers drawn were 2, 20, 51, 56, and 67, with the gold Mega Ball being 19.
In the drawing on December 20, over two million tickets received a prize in all nonjackpot prize categories. Five tickets correctly matched the five white balls, winning the game's second-highest prize of $1 million. None of those tickets chose the $1 Megaplier add-on that could have increased their winnings to $2 million after the Megaplier hit 2x.
An additional 48 tickets matched four of the five white balls along with the Mega Ball, winning the game’s third-highest prize of $10,000. Eleven of those tickets featured the Megaplier to double their prizes.
The majority of the winning tickets — over 1.36 million plays — matched the gold Mega Ball to retrieve their $2 investment. Approximately 265K utilized the Megaplier to gain a $2 profit.
Massive Redesign
The way Mega Millions functions is about to alter. In October, the Mega Millions Consortium validated rumors that the starting price will increase from $2 to $5 starting in April 2025.
The $5 ticket, on the other hand, automatically includes the Megaplier. This implies that "break-even" results will cease to exist, since a winning ticket next spring will consistently yield more than the $5 wager placed.
The odds of winning the jackpot at about one in 302.5 million will not alter, since the count of white and gold Mega Balls will stay constant. Mega Millions consists of 70 white balls and 25 Mega Balls.
Representatives from Powerball, the main competitor of Mega Millions, state that they do not intend to raise ticket prices or modify the game. The Powerball drawing occurs on Monday evening, with the jackpot estimated at $103 million.
Powerball offers marginally improved jackpot odds compared to Mega Millions, with odds of one in 292.2 million. As the Powerball jackpot tonight is under $150 million, the 10x Power Play multiplier will be active.
Unresolved $1.13B Ticket
In March, a Mega Millions ticket purchased at a ShopRite grocery and liquor store in Neptune, NJ, secured a 30-year annuitized jackpot totaling $1.128 billion. The New Jersey Lottery reports that the ticket for the fifth-largest prize in Mega Millions history has yet to be claimed.
New Jersey's lottery regulations mandate that winning tickets must be claimed within 12 months of the drawing. The victor has until March 26, 2025, to step forward.
Editor’s note: the winning ticket was claimed only hours after this article appeared.
