Mega Millions jackpot soars to $843 million

(NEW YORK) The Mega Millions jackpot is now the eighth largest in the history of the game with an estimated $843 million up for grabs in Friday night’s drawing, officials said.

Friday’s drawing at 11 p.m. will be the 38th since the jackpot was last won in Virginia on June 27 and is now the longest streak without a jackpot winner since the game began in 2002, according to a statement from Mega Millions.

The previous record of 37 drawings was set Jan. 22, 2021, when a $1.050 billion jackpot was won in Michigan, officials said.

“While the jackpot remains elusive, the number of winners — and total prizes won — continues to grow,” lottery officials said. “Through this jackpot run to date, there have been almost 11.7 million winning tickets at all levels, with total prizes exceeding $274 million thanks to significant enhancements in the lower-tier prizes after the game changed last April.”

There have also been 256 third-tier winning tickets so far in this run, ranging from $20,000 to $100,000, Mega Millions officials said.

Before the June 27 Virginia jackpot win at $348 million, other jackpots awarded this year were in Ohio, with $112 million won on April 18, Illinois, with $349 million won on March 25 and Arizona, where $112 million was won on Jan. 17.

Even though nobody won the jackpot on Tuesday, lottery officials said there is still plenty of money to be won with other prizes.

“In the Nov. 4 drawing alone, there were 606,046 winning tickets across all prize tiers, for total nationwide winnings of more than $12.2 million,” officials said.

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 290,472,336, according to Mega Millions.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $5 for one play and the largest Mega Millions jackpot prize ever won was a $1.6 billion prize won on Aug. 8, 2023.