Mega Millions Jackpot Jumps to $843 Million, 8th Largest in Game History
The Mega Millions grand prize has climbed to an estimated $843 million, making it the eighth-largest jackpot in the game’s history, lottery officials said. The winning numbers will be drawn Friday at 11 p.m. ET.
According to Mega Millions, Friday’s drawing will be the 38th since the jackpot was last hit on June 27 in Virginia. That run marks the longest stretch without a jackpot winner since the game launched in 2002, surpassing the previous record of 37 drawings set on Jan. 22, 2021, when a $1.050 billion prize was won in Michigan.
“While the jackpot remains elusive, the number of winners – and total prizes won – continues to grow,” lottery officials said. They noted that during the current run, there have been nearly 11.7 million winning tickets across all prize levels, with total payouts exceeding $274 million. Officials attributed the higher overall prize amounts to “significant enhancements in the lower-tier prizes” made after the game changed in April. So far, 256 third-tier tickets — worth between $20,000 and $100,000 — have also been sold in this streak. Even though no one matched all six numbers in the most recent drawing on Nov. 4, officials emphasized that players are still winning substantial amounts. “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,” Mega Millions said.