Mega Millions jackpot nears $1B

The Mega Millions jackpot soared to nearly $1 billion after Tuesday night’s drawing failed to produce a grand prize winner.

The jackpot grew to an estimated $965 million ahead of Friday’s drawing, marking the eighth-largest jackpot since the game began in 2002. The estimated cash value is $445.3 million.

The last time someone took home such a lofty prize was in December 2024, when a California player nabbed a $1.269 billion prize.

Friday’s drawing will be the 40th drawing in this run, which is a game record.

MEGA MILLIONS JACKPOT NOW AMONG TOP 10 HIGHEST IN CONTEST HISTORY

In the Nov. 11 drawing, the white balls were 10, 13, 40, 42 and 46. The gold was Mega Ball 1. There were 809,030 winning tickets across all prize tiers, for total nationwide winnings of more than $27.9 million.

Three tickets matched the five white balls to win the game’s second-tier prize. A ticket sold in Arizona had the 5X multiplier for a $5 million prize. The two others had the 3X multiplier for a $3 million prize and were sold in Iowa and New York, according to the lottery.

MEGA MILLIONS JACKPOT JUMPS ABOVE $800 MILLION

South Carolina was the first in 2018, followed by Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine and Florida in 2023, and New Jersey and California in 2024.

MEGA MILLIONS JACKPOT CLIMBS TO $900 MILLION

The record is still the Florida prize in August 2023, at $1.602 billion.

Mega Millions tickets are $5 each and are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The drawing takes place Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 p.m. ET. The odds of winning a prize are 1 in 23, while the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 290.5 million, according to Mega Millions.