The lottery gods appear to be shining down on U.S. residents, with the latest Mega Millions prize narrowing in on US$1 billion.
The Mega Millions jackpot has reached an astonishing $940 million – or a lump sum cash option of $483.5 million – after no ticket matched all six numbers that were drawn earlier this week.
The prize, so far, marks the sixth-largest in U.S. history.
That comes less than two months after a player in California won a record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot. Players also won lottery prizes topping $1 billion earlier in 2022 and in 2021.
“In more than 20 years since the game began in 2002, there have been just three larger jackpots than Friday’s estimated prize,” Mega Millions said in a statement announcing that nobody had won the Mega Millions jackpot.
“The Mega Millions record remains $1.537 billion, won by a single ticket in South Carolina on October 23, 2018. Two years ago, a $1.05 billion prize was won in Michigan on January 22, 2021, and there was that big $1.337 billion jackpot won in Illinois last July.”
According to ABC News, this latest drawing marks the 23rd consecutive drawing with no Mega Millions jackpot winner since Oct. 14, 2022. The next draw will take place this coming Friday, Jan. 6.
“Across the country, 68 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize,” Mega Millions said. “Twelve of those tickets are worth $40,000 each, because they also included the optional Megaplier. The other 56 third-tier winning tickets are worth $10,000 each.”
The last Mega Millions jackpot was won on Oct. 14 when winners in California and Florida split a $494-million prize – the 11th-largest Mega Millions jackpot at the time.
These incredibly large payouts come as a result of 2017 rule changes that made the odds of winning more difficult, reports The Associated Press.
The changes lengthened the odds from one in 258.9 million to one in 302.6 million.
The idea was that by making jackpots less common, ticket revenue could build up week after week, creating giant prizes that would attract attention and pull in more players who had grown blasé about $100-million or $200-million top prizes.
Thanks to those moves, nine of the top 10 largest lottery prizes have been won since 2017.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Canadians, however, can also get in on the fun.
For those who live close to the U.S. border, a day trip to a state-side border town convenience store or gas station could result in a huge payoff.
Canucks can also ask a friend or family member in America to buy a ticket on their behalf — provided they trust them not to run off with the winnings!
If those two options are out of the question, there’s one more way Canadians can score a ticket.
There are a number of third-party services that will buy lottery tickets for a fee, and they’ve been shown to work in the past.
Mega Millions, however, doesn’t endorse using these companies and writes on its site, “if you choose to do business with one of these companies, you do so at your own risk.”
— with files from Global News’ Kathryn Mannie and The Associated Press