Friday evening’s Mega Millions drawing may reveal a successful ticket for the lottery recreation’s fifth largest jackpot: $1.22 billion.
The drawing can be held at 11 p.m. ET.
The jackpot has been constructing since its clock was reset on Sept. 13 after somebody in Texas took a $810 million jackpot, Mega Millions officers stated. No ticket matched all six numbers revealed within the newest drawing on Christmas Eve.
“We know that many individuals will doubtless obtain tickets to Friday’s drawing as vacation items, and what a present that may develop into in the event you ended up with a ticket price a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, stated in an announcement Wednesday.
Since then, gamers drawn to that billion-dollar-plus quantity have been buying tickets, contributing to a jackpot development spurt as the ten p.m. ET Friday buying deadline nears.
Residents of eight states can take residence the utmost quantity from a jackpot win as a result of their state governments don’t tax lottery winnings. Those states are California, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.
A win Friday evening would surpass the present fifth-largest jackpot of $1.128 billion, which was claimed Monday, months after the March 26 drawing.
That successful ticket was bought at a ShopRite in Neptune Township, New Jersey, Mega Millions officers stated. New Jersey winners have a 12 months to make such a declare.
“It is widespread for big jackpot winners to take their time to file a declare,” Mega Millions officers stated within the assertion.
The winner, who selected safety beneath New Jersey legislation to stay nameless, opted for the prize’s money worth, estimated at $537.5 million earlier than state and federal taxes, Mega Millions officers stated.
The federal tax on such an amount is more likely to be 37%; New Jersey would tax it at 8%.
The Mega Millions jackpot discovered a winner 3 times in 2024 to this point. It’s a quantity officers stated would quantity to the fewest jackpot wins in a 12 months for the reason that seven-state Big Game turned Mega Millions in 2002.
Mega Millions, performed in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands, produced 10 jackpots in 2023, essentially the most for the reason that recreation underwent main modifications in 2013, officers stated in an announcement on Monday.
A participant from Florida claimed the biggest Mega Millions jackpot, $1.602 billion, in August 2023. As massive as that quantity is, nonetheless, it couldn’t surpass fellow multi-state lottery recreation Powerball’s most precious jackpot, $2.040 billion, recorded in November 2022.
