Christmas Eve Mega Millions jackpot reaches $1 billion
OAKLAND, Calif. - The Mega Millions jackpot crossed the billion-dollar mark ahead of its Christmas Eve drawing.
The winning numbers drawn Tuesday night were 1, 14, 38, 45, 46, and the gold ball was 3. The Megaplier was 3x. The next estimated jackpot is pending.
The jackpot grew to $1 billion after Friday night’s drawing didn’t have any players with tickets matching all the numbers. As a one-time cash payout, it amounts to $448.8 million.
The next drawing is Friday.
It marks the seventh time in the game’s history that the jackpot has passed the billion-dollar mark, the lottery said.
The jackpot is poised to become Mega Millions’ fourth grand-prize win of 2024 if someone lands it before the end of the year.
The three jackpot wins that Mega Millions has seen so far this year occurred in mid-September, early June and late March. They were worth $810 million, $552 million and $1.128 billion, respectively.
The $1.128 billion grand prize, won in March and recently claimed, is the lottery’s largest of the year so far and its only one to break 10-figures in 2024 to date, according to Mega Millions.
The currently up-for-grabs $1 billion jackpot "would be the largest prize ever won in December" in the event someone matches all six numbers this month, Mega Millions said. It would also mark the second-ever instance of a Christmas Eve jackpot win if Tuesday's drawing yields a grand-prize winner.
Drawings conducted since September, when the Mega Millions jackpot was most recently won, have produced a multitude of lower-level lottery winners. Fifty-six people have scored windfalls of at least $1 million, and others have received smaller sums, the lottery reported.
Mega Millions plans to conduct its Christmas Eve drawing for the $1 billion grand prize at 11 p.m. Eastern. The chances of landing the nine-figure jackpot are 1 in about 302.6 million.
Fellow lottery Powerball held a drawing for a $103 million jackpot on Monday evening.