Mega Millions crept closer to the biggest lottery payout in U.S. history on Tuesday as no one matched all five numbers and the Mega Ball.
The next drawing, to be held Friday, will be worth an estimated $868 million — the second-largest payout in lottery history. The cash option is worth just shy of half a billion, at $494 million. The drawing on Tuesday was already the biggest payout in Mega Million history.
Mega Millions had announced the jackpot reached a new record of $667 million earlier in the day Tuesday. The only bigger payout in lottery history was a Powerball drawing of $1.59 billion in January 2016. Three winners split that pot.
The numbers for Tuesday were 3-45-49-61-69 and a Mega Ball of 9.
But don’t throw out your tickets, there were nine people who matched all five white balls. With the Megaplier, one person in Texas won $5 million, while the other eight took home $1 million each.
“The estimated annuity value of the jackpot in tonight’s Mega Millions drawing was raised today to $667 million, making it the largest in the game’s history and third-largest in U.S. lottery jackpot history,” read the statement.
The new prize surpasses the previous Mega Millions record of $656 million that was shared by winners from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland in March 2012.
“It’s always a thrill to have both jackpots rolling, but there’s an extra spark now with Mega Millions reaching a new record,” Gordon Medenica, Mega Millions lead director and Maryland’s lottery and gaming director said in a statement on Tuesday. “Everyone is talking about the jackpot and running out to buy tickets for tonight’s drawing.”
The Mega Millions jackpot has skyrocketed since the July 24 drawing when a group of 11 coworkers in Santa Clara County, California, shared a $543 million prize, the fourth-largest prize in the game’s history.
More than $1 billion in combined potential prize money is up for grabs between the Mega Millions and Powerball lotteries.
The jackpot for Wednesday’s Powerball drawing is about $345 million.
