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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.

System of a Down’s Daron Malakian was in Chicago for the band’s two-night stand at Soldier Field, and happened to hear a SOAD tribute act performing as he was walking around the Windy City on an off day. The guitarist-singer promptly surprised the cover band by walking into the venue and jumping onstage to perform “Cigaro” with them.

The night before System played their first of two shows in the city, Malakian, a big baseball fan, decided to visit Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, to take some photos outside of the stadium. At first, his cousin, whom he was walking with, thought it might be a karaoke night, but when Malakian decided to peek in, he found out it was a System of a Down tribute band called Peephole.

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He walked right up to the front of the stage, much to the shock and delight of the cover band, and then ended up joining them onstage for a performance of “Cigaro.” Malakian documented the whole thing in an Instagram video, and wrote about the experience, which left him just as thrilled as the members of Peephole and the lucky people in the audience:

“Let me start by saying None of this was planned. We had a day off before our show in Chicago and I went out to dinner and after I decided to go take some pictures around town with @gregwatermann. We didn’t plan on going to Wrigley Field, but we ended up there. While we were taking photos in front of the stadium I heard the intro to ‘Needles’ from a bar across the street. My cousin who was with me said that he thought it was karaoke. I decided to walk across the street and go into the bar and found that it was a @systemofadown cover band called @peepholesoad. I walked right to the front of the stage and surprised the band and the audience. This was all so spontaneous. The look on everyone’s faces was priceless. To be honest, I was just as surprised as anyone else was that this was happening. I joined the band and sang ‘Cigaro,’ shook their hands, took some pictures with the fans in the audience, and walked out of the place. I can only imagine what a shock it was for everyone there after I left. It all happened so fast. The odds of this happening were so slim. Probably had a better chance of getting struck by lightning. So many stars had to align for me to end up at the right place and right time. One of the coolest moments I’ve ever had!!! I’ll always remember this night, and I’m sure everyone that was there will never forget it either!!!!!!”