The winning numbers for Mega Millions last night were 6, 23, 41, 59, 63, with the gold Mega Ball being 25. Unfortunately, your ticket didn’t hit the jackpot.
In Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing, tens of millions of tickets were sold, but none matched the six drawn numbers. Consequently, the jackpot has now climbed to an estimated $800 million for the next drawing on Tuesday. This marks the 27th consecutive drawing without a jackpot winner.
Tuesday’s $800 million prize is now the seventh-largest in Mega Millions history since the game commenced in 1996, trailing only seven other Mega Millions jackpots that have crossed the ten-digit mark. At this substantial amount, the jackpot also ranks as the 13th-largest in U.S. lottery history.
Although Friday’s drawing did not produce a jackpot winner, there were still significant wins. Six tickets matched all five white balls, claiming the second-tier prize of $1 million. Among them, one ticket had the optional $1 Megaplier add-on, doubling the win to $2 million as the Megaplier landed on 2x.
Additionally, forty-nine tickets matched four white balls and the gold Mega Ball, winning $10,000 each. Ten of those tickets included the Megaplier, doubling their prizes to $20,000. Over a thousand tickets matched four of the five white balls for a $500 prize, with 223 of those also winning double due to the Megaplier.
In total, during the Friday drawing, 1,699,484 tickets won a prize. Among those, approximately 1.12 million tickets matched the Mega Ball, allowing players to win back their $2 bet.
The drawing also coincided with the 28th anniversary of Mega Millions. Initially known as The Big Game when first drawn on September 6, 1996, the interstate lottery has continually operated since then. The six original participating lotteries were from Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Virginia. The game’s logo, featuring the gold Mega Ball with six stars, commemorates these original states. Today, Mega Millions is played across 45 states, Washington D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The game has undergone several changes over the years, including rebranding to The Big Game Mega Millions in 2002 and then simply Mega Millions in 2003. These changes, along with adjustments in gameplay to make winning the jackpot more difficult, have helped generate headlines and boost ticket sales. In October 2017, the cost to play was doubled to $2, and the number of Mega Balls was increased from 15 to 25, while the number of white balls was reduced from 75 to 70. This overhaul adjusted the jackpot odds from one in 258.89 million to the current one in 302.57 million.
