A massive Mega Millions jackpot, currently estimated at $1 billion ($448.8 million cash), is up for grabs in the Christmas Eve drawing. The jackpot rolled over after no ticket matched all six numbers in Friday night’s drawing. If won at the current estimate, it would be the largest December prize ever awarded and the seventh largest in Mega Millions history.
Since the game’s inception in 2002, thirteen Mega Millions jackpots have been won in December. Three of these wins occurred after Christmas, while the remaining ten were won beforehand. Interestingly, there has never been a jackpot win on Christmas Day itself, despite drawings being held on six Christmases: 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2020.
The last Mega Millions jackpot win was $810 million, claimed in Texas on September 10th. Prior to that, only two other Mega Millions jackpots were won earlier this year: a $552 million prize awarded to an Illinois online player on June 4th, and a still-unclaimed $1.128 billion prize from a ticket sold in New Jersey on March 26th. The New Jersey winner has until March 26, 2025, to claim their winnings; otherwise, the prize money will revert to the participating Mega Millions jurisdictions.
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350. The game is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets cost $2.
(Lists of largest Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots have been removed as they are redundant and the formatting is inconsistent with the rewritten text. They could be included as a separate table if desired.)
Watch New York State Lottery Drawings:
* Daily at 2:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
* Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8:15 p.m.
Powerball Drawings:
* Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 p.m.
Mega Millions Drawings:
* Tuesday and Friday at 11:00 p.m.
*Sources: AP archives, www.megamillions.com and www.powerball.com*
(The remainder of the text – promotional material for the news station – has been removed as it is not part of the article rewrite.)