Mega Millions jackpot soars to an estimated $1.15 billion for holiday drawing
CNN
This holiday season, a lucky Mega Millions player might receive a $1.15 billion belated Christmas gift.
This holiday season, a lucky Mega Millions player might receive a $1.15 billion belated Christmas gift. With no one winning the jackpot on Christmas Eve, Friday’s grand prize hit an estimated $1.15 billion – the largest prize ever offered in the month of December. That’s a $516.1 million cash prize. If a ticket wins the grand prize, it would be just the seventh time in the game’s history that the jackpot has soared past $1 billion, the lottery said. The six won to date were awarded in South Carolina in 2018, Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine and Florida in 2023 and New Jersey last March. The Florida prize is the game’s record jackpot at $1.602 billion. “We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays – whether Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, or any other way people choose to celebrate the season – than by helping fulfill the dreams that come with a prize like this and prizes that will be won at all levels of the game.” Tuesday’s winning numbers were: 11, 14, 38, 45, 46 and Mega Ball 3. Although no tickets matched all six numbers in Tuesday night’s drawing, four tickets still won $1 million each by matching the first five numbers. Those tickets were sold in California, Missouri, Wyoming and Pennsylvania, according to the Mega Millions website.
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