Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing at 11 p.m. ET from the Georgia Lottery’s draw studio in Atlanta features an advertised jackpot of $575 million, ranking it as the No. 9 top jackpot in the game’s history. The August 27 annuitized jackpot offers a one-time cash option of an estimated $285.5 million, both before federal and potential state taxes.
Mega Millions has reached this impressive sum after 23 consecutive drawings without a ticket matching all five white balls and the gold Mega Ball. The odds of hitting the jackpot remain a staggering one in over 302.5 million. However, as more tickets are sold, the chances of a winning combination being drawn slightly improve, as more of the 302,575,350 unique number sequences are covered.
During the August 23 drawing, two tickets managed to match all five white balls to secure $1 million prizes each. Interestingly, one of those tickets included the optional $1 Megaplier, which tripled the payout to $3 million after the Megaplier landed on 3x.
This has been a relatively slow year for Mega Millions winners. Only two tickets in 2023 have successfully matched all six winning numbers. A New Jersey ticket on March 26 won a $1.128 billion jackpot, which remains unclaimed, and a ticket sold in Illinois on June 4 claimed an annuitized jackpot of $552 million, the 10th largest in the game’s history.
Mega Millions, which started as The Big Game in 1996 and rebranded in 2003, has grown numerous jackpots over $1 billion due to its longer odds compared to rival Powerball. Since 2018, Mega Millions has produced six jackpots exceeding $1 billion, while Powerball has seen five 10-digit before-tax jackpots, including the largest in U.S. history at $2.04 billion in 2022.
Mega Millions tickets are available in 45 states, Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands for $2. An optional $1 add-on Megaplier is also available, allowing non-jackpot prizes to be multiplied.
Meanwhile, Mega Millions officials are urging players in Texas to check their tickets from previous drawings. A winning ticket from the March 19 drawing worth $1 million is set to expire on Sunday, September 15. This ticket, purchased at the All-Season Food convenience store in Houston at 3411 Antoine Drive, matched all five white balls but missed the gold Mega Ball. The winner did not opt for the Megaplier, which would have doubled the winnings to $2 million.
As the excitement builds for Tuesday’s drawing, hopeful participants across the nation are gearing up for a chance at one of the game’s richest prizes.
