The jackpot grew to an estimated $940 million for Friday's Mega Millions drawing after there were no winners Tuesday night.
The numbers for Tuesday night's drawing were 41, 33, 25, 44 and 29 with a Megaball of 18. The next drawing is scheduled to be held Friday night.
The new $940 million jackpot is for a winner who chooses to be paid through an annuity over 29 years. Nearly all winners opt for a cash payout, which for Friday night’s drawing would be an estimated $483.5 million.
In Tuesday’s drawing, there were more than 2.9 million winning tickets of various amounts including three $4 million tickets sold in Arizona, Mississippi and South Dakota, Mega Millions said in a statement.
The lack of a winner of an estimated $785 million jackpot Tuesday means there have been 23 straight drawings without anyone taking the top prize. The drought isn’t surprising given the daunting odds of one in 302.6 million of hitting the jackpot.
The new top prize will remain the sixth-largest jackpot in U.S. history.
It is the largest lottery jackpot since someone in California won a record $2.04 billion Powerball prize on Nov. 8. There still has not been an announced winner of that prize.
There have been only three larger Mega Millions jackpots than Friday’s estimated prize in the game's 20 years, including $1.53 billion in 2018, $1.05 billion in 2021 and $1.33 billion in July, Mega Millions said.
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Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
