Lottery officials said Saturday (Today), the 14th largest prize in Mega Millions® history will be offered next Tuesday, July 11! Currently estimated at $480 million ($240.7 million cash), the jackpot keeps growing after no ticket matched all six numbers in the July 7 drawing – the white balls 8, 10, 17, 55 and 66, plus the gold Mega Ball 3. Tuesday’s drawing will be the 24th in this roll, which began after the jackpot was last won in New York on April 18.
As the jackpot rolls, the number of winning tickets at all other prize levels also continues to grow. In total, there were 1,175,091 winning tickets across all prize tiers in the July 7 drawing. One, sold in California, matched the five white balls to win the game’s second-tier prize. Across the country, 28 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Three of those tickets are worth $30,000 each, because they included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 3X on Friday night. The other 25 third-tier winning tickets are worth $10,000 each.
Since the last jackpot was won on April 18, there have been a total of more than 12.7 million winning tickets at all non-jackpot prize levels, ranging from $2 up to $3 million. These include 16 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, won in 12 different jurisdictions from coast to coast: California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.
This year started out with six jackpot winners in less than four months – a number far more typical of a full year! The first was a big one – $1.348 billion won in Maine on January 13, the second-largest prize awarded in Mega Millions history. That was followed by three quick wins. The very next drawing, on January 17, produced a $20 million win in New York. Two drawings later, $33 million was won in Massachusetts on January 24, and just two drawings after that, Massachusetts repeated with another jackpot win, this time at $31 million. Then came two more wins in New York, at $483 million on April 14 followed by $20 million on April 18. That was the first time in Mega Millions history that two jackpots have been won in the same state in consecutive drawings.