Mega Millions hasn’t seen a grand prize winner since April 18.
WASHINGTON — The Mega Millions jackpot is inching even closer to the $1 billion mark after no one won the $720 million prize Friday. The jackpot now sits at $820 million for the next drawing on Tuesday night.
A number of tickets won the game’s lower-tier prizes. Eight — two in Florida, New Jersey and North Carolina, and one each in California and Michigan — matched all five white balls to win $1 million.
It’s been a month of big lottery prizes. On Wednesday, a ticket sold in downtown Los Angeles won the $1 billion Powerball jackpot.
Mega Millions hasn’t seen a grand prize winner since April 18, when a 71-year-old man from New York won the state’s largest Mega Millions jackpot ever. Johnnie Taylor of Howard Beach in Queens, New York, won $476 million but opted for the cash option — a lump sum of more than $157 million after taxes.
Winners almost always take the cash option, but they do have a choice to instead get the full amount in regular payments over 29 years. The cash option for Tuesday’s drawing is $422 million.
Mega Millions winning numbers for July 21, 2023:
The winning numbers were 29-40-47-50-57, Mega Ball 25 and Megaplier 2X .
When is the Mega Millions drawing?
Mega Millions drawings take place on Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
What are the largest lottery jackpots ever?
1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 (one ticket, from California)
2. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)
3. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)
4. $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023 (one ticket, from Maine)
5. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)
6. $1.08 billion, Powerball, July 19, 2023 (one ticket, from California)
7. $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)
8. $820 million, Mega Millions (estimated)
9. $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)
10. $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)
The game’s giant prizes come with miniscule chances of actually winning — winners overcome odds of roughly 1 in 302.6 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
