Mega Millions Jackpot Soars to Over $1 Billion, Fifth Largest in History

Tonight's Mega Millions drawing offers an astounding jackpot of over $1 billion, marking only the fifth time in its history that the prize has reached this staggering amount. After last Friday's drawing yielded no jackpot winner, the estimated prize for tonight's drawing stands at $1.05 billion ($527.9 million cash), making it the fourth-largest Mega Millions jackpot ever.

This remarkable jackpot has been steadily growing since its last win in New York on April 18, and Tuesday's drawing will be the 30th consecutive drawing in this current run. As excitement builds around the rising jackpot, the number of prizes won in the other eight prize tiers is also on the rise.

In the previous drawing on July 28, a total of 3,157,597 winning tickets were awarded across all tiers. Of these, 586,903 tickets included the optional Megaplier, which multiplies standard non-jackpot prizes by a factor of 2x to 5x. The Megaplier for the last drawing was set at 5x, resulting in numerous prizes being multiplied by a factor of five.

Among the winners, a fortunate ticket in Pennsylvania scooped a remarkable $5 million, matching five white balls for the game's second-tier prize. Additionally, another Pennsylvania ticket, along with tickets in Arizona, California, and New York, secured the standard $1 million prize in the same drawing.

In total, 92 tickets across the nation matched four white balls and the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Among them, 14 tickets, including the optional Megaplier, were worth $50,000 each, while the remaining 78 won the standard $10,000 prize.

Since the last jackpot win in April, there have been over 26.4 million winning tickets at non-jackpot prize levels, ranging from $2 up to $5 million. This includes 46 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, awarded in 22 different jurisdictions nationwide.

The year began with an unprecedented six jackpot winners in less than four months, which is a significant occurrence given the randomness of lottery drawings. Notably, one of the early jackpots amounted to an astonishing $1.348 billion, won in Maine on January 13, the second-largest prize in Mega Millions history.

With anticipation building for tonight's drawing, millions of hopeful participants across the country eagerly await the chance to win this life-changing Mega Millions jackpot, further highlighting the allure and excitement of the lottery.