A year-end countdown as Mega Millions Jackpot grows to nearly $1 billion
Tonight’s Mega Millions drawing could yield a jackpot nearing $1 billion – the largest prize ever offered in the month of December.
By Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN
(CNN) — While shoppers rush to find the perfect holiday gift, the real treasure might just be hidden in one lucky lottery ticket. That’s because tonight’s Mega Millions drawing could yield a jackpot nearing $1 billion – the largest prize ever offered in the month of December.
The Mega Millions jackpot surged to $862 million on Friday, Joshua Johnston, the lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, told CNN, jumping up $37 million from a jackpot initially projected to be $825 million. If someone wins on Friday, the lucky winner can choose to take home a lump sum of $392.1 million.
“I would love to be the family members of the person that won that – your Christmas is gonna be amazing!” Johnston said.
“There’s just really not a product on the market for two bucks that will give you an opportunity throughout the course of a few days to just kind of imagine and dream what it would be like to win that sum of money,” he said. “And that’s just so much fun to think about, especially around the holidays, when there’s already a sense of magic in the air.”
Friday’s drawing is part of what the Mega Millions organization is calling the “most unusual jackpot year.” Since Mega Millions began in 2002, there has never been a single year where all jackpots won ranked among the top 10 largest prizes awarded at the time.
This means that 2024 has been a year of extraordinary, record-breaking jackpots. Let’s break it down.
September
A Houston-area resident claimed September’s $800 million Mega Millions jackpot prize a month after purchasing the winning ticket at a gas station convenience store in Sugar Land. The winner, The Sol Living Trust, claimed the cash value option winnings receiving over $409 million before taxes in what the Texas Lottery said was the largest prize ever paid out to a single player.
June
In June, an anonymous player in Illinois took home $552 million after punching in the winning numbers in an online lottery purchase.
“I was scrolling through my emails when I saw one from the Illinois Lottery saying to check my numbers because I won a prize,” the winner, dubbed “MEGA Millionaire,” told Illinois State Lottery officials. “You can’t imagine my shock and disbelief when I saw that I had won the jackpot amount of $552 million. I actually quit the app and then signed back in to double-check and make sure it was real. It was real alright – but it still feels unreal!”
The online win marked a significant moment for digital lottery platforms.
March
The clock is ticking for one New Jersey Mega Millions ticket holder who has yet to claim the whopping $1.13 billion prize for picking winning lottery numbers for the March 26 drawing. The New Jersey Lottery says winners have one year from the date of the drawing to claim their prize. The billion-dollar mystery winner bought the jackpot-winning ticket at a ShopRite Liquor store in Monmouth County.
High hopes for snagging a holiday billion
Historically, December has been a pretty lucky month for players, with 13 jackpots won during the holiday season. However, the odds of winning on Christmas Day haven’t been as high. No one has ever won a jackpot on Christmas Day, according to the Mega Millions organization.
But it looks like hope and wishful thinking are winning out this season.
“We tend to see sales go up during the holidays,” Johnston explained, adding that the bump in ticket sales happens as people are out and about shopping. “But what’s super cool about this particular one is, I mean, we’re at $862 million and a person can come in and walk out with $392.1 million.”
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