A year-end countdown as the Mega Millions Jackpot grows to nearly $1 billion

CNN
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While shoppers rush to find the perfect Christmas present, the real treasure may just be hidden in a lucky lottery ticket. That’s because tonight’s Mega Millions drawing could yield a jackpot approaching $1 billion — the largest prize ever offered in the month of December.

Friday’s winning numbers were: 2, 20, 51, 56, 67 and Mega Ball 19.

The Mega Millions jackpot jumped to $862 million on Friday, Joshua Johnston, the head of the Mega Millions Consortium, told CNN, jumping $37 million from an originally expected jackpot. 825 million dollars. If someone wins on Friday, the lucky winner can choose to take home a lump sum of $392.1 million.

“I would love to be family members of the person who won it – your Christmas will be amazing!” Johnston said.

“There really isn’t a product on the market for two dollars that will give you an opportunity over a few days to just imagine and dream what it would be like to win that amount of money,” he said. “And it’s just so much fun to think about, especially around the holidays when there’s already a sense of magic in the air.”

Friday’s drawing is part of what the Mega Millions organization calls “most unusual jackpot years.” Since Mega Millions began in 2002, there has never been a single year in which all jackpots won ranked among the 10 largest prizes awarded at that time.

This means that 2024 has been a year of extraordinary, record-breaking jackpots. Let’s break it down.

September

A Houston-area resident claimed Sept $800 million Mega Millions jackpot prize one month after purchasing the winning ticket in a gas station convenience store in Sukkerland. The winner, The Sol Living Trust, claimed the cash value option winnings received over $409 million before taxes in what the Texas Lottery said was the largest prize ever paid to a single player.

June

In June, an anonymous player in Illinois took home $552 million after entering the winning numbers in an online lottery purchase.

“I was scrolling through my emails when I saw someone from the Illinois Lottery saying to check my numbers because I won a prize,” the winner, dubbed the “MEGA Millionaire,” said Illinois State Lottery civil servants. “You can’t imagine my shock and disbelief when I saw that I had won the jackpot amount of $552 million. I actually quit the app and then logged back in to double check and make sure it was real. It was really okay – but it still feels unreal!”

The online win marked an important moment for digital lottery platforms.

March

The clock is ticking for a New Jersey Mega Millions ticket holder who has yet to claim the whopping $1.13 billion prize for picking winning lottery numbers for the March 26 drawing. The New Jersey Lottery states that winners have one year from the date of the drawing to claim their prize. The billion-dollar mystery winner bought the jackpot-winning ticket at a ShopRite Liquor store in Monmouth County.

Historically, December has been a pretty lucky month for players, with 13 jackpots won during the holiday season. However, the odds of winning on Christmas Day have not been so high. No one has ever won a jackpot on Christmas Day, according to Mega Millions organization.

But it looks like hope and wishful thinking are winning out this season.

“We tend to see sales spike during the holidays,” Johnston explained, adding that the bump in ticket sales happens when people are out shopping. “But what’s super cool about this particular one is, I mean, we’re at $862 million, and one person can come in and walk out with $392.1 million.”