Mega Millions jackpot reaches $1 billion after no numbers match in the Christmas Eve drawing.
Keep those stocking-stuffer lottery tickets.
The Mega Millions jackpot has topped $1 billion, with no ticket matching all six numbers drawn on Christmas Eve. That means the anticipated prize for Friday’s drawing is $1.15 billion, making it the fifth-largest in the game’s history.
“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium said in a Wednesday statement.
According to lottery authorities, the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350, with the odds of winning any Mega Millions award being 1 in 24.
Tickets for the game are available in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the United States Virgin Islands. Mega Millions tickets cost $2 each. Half of the earnings from the sale of each ticket are retained in the state where the ticket was sold. On Tuesdays and Fridays, drawings take place at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays – whether Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, or any other way people choose to celebrate the season – than by helping fulfill the dreams that come with a prize like this and prizes that will be won at all levels of the game,” Johnston said.
