For good reasons, Mega Millions has been at the center of lottery jackpot news in the United States lately. On Friday, July 28, 2023, the lottery game surpassed the $1 billion mark after not selling any winning tickets in the drawing.
This is the fifth time Mega Millions Jackpot has crossed the $1 billion line. It's also the fourth-highest jackpot in the game's history.
The game started building lottery fever this week after the jackpot reached $910 million. This was after there were no winning tickets for Tuesday night's drawing (July 25), taking the pot to the fifth largest in Mega Million's history.
The winning numbers for Friday's Mega Millions jackpot, which was expected to be worth $940 million, were 5, 10, 28, 52, and 63, together with a Mega Ball of 18.
Interestingly, Mega Millions is currently experiencing a long dry spell of a jackpot winner. The game has not registered any jackpot win since April 18. The next drawing for the lottery game will happen on Tuesday, August 1, at 23:00 Eastern Time, with the lucky player taking home an earth-shaking payout of $1.05 billion before tax.
As is the lottery tradition in the United States, the holder of the winning ticket on Tuesday next week can choose an annuity or lump sum option. Gamers who choose the lump sum option will receive $527.9 million from the regulated lottery operator.
Conversely, the annual option has 30 installments equal to the total jackpot prize. For this reason, experts often advise players to go for annuity payments.
According to Mega Millions, the game has sold 46 tickets with matching white balls since a player won the jackpot in April. Matching these balls can earn players a payout of at least $1 million. On Friday, a player from Pennsylvania matched all five white balls to bag a $5 million payout, thanks to the Megaplier on the winning ticket.
But winning the daggling Mega Millions jackpot won't be easy, as evidenced by the three-month dry period. That's because players have long odds of 1 in 302 million of winning the payout.
