Mega Millions jackpot rises to $1.15B after Christmas Eve drawing

Mega Millions ticket holders hoping to hit the billion dollar jackpot are in for a blue Christmas.

No one matched all six numbers during Tuesday’s drawing as the lottery’s top prize rose to $1.15 billion — the fifth-largest prize in the game’s history.

Tuesday’s winning numbers were 11, 14, 38, 45, 46 and Mega Ball 3.

Four players in California, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Wyoming matched five white balls for $1 million but missed out on the coveted gold ball to capture the top prize on Christmas Eve.

According to the lottery, more than 4.2 million ticket holders won prizes during the drawing.

“We know many people are likely to receive tickets for Friday’s drawing as a Christmas gift, and what a gift it would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium Joshua Johnston said.

“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays—whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the winter solstice, or any other way people choose to celebrate the season—than to help fulfill the dreams that follow with a prize like this. and prizes to be won at all levels of the game.”

Jackpot hopefuls also have the chance to win an estimated $516.1 million in prize money ahead of the next drawing on Friday.

The staggering jackpot has grown since a lucky winner in Texas won an astonishing $810 million prize in September.

Before the drawing Tuesday night, Queens Deli worker Patel estimated he sold more than 100 tickets on Christmas Eve.

“It’s very — it’s very busy,” the 22-year-old, who works part-time at Forest Deli in Ridgewood, told The Post.

“Of course they want to win a billion dollars. They’re like, ‘I’m going to give it to the charity’ and ‘give it to you,’ too. I’m also excited for my customers. If my customer wins, I’m happy.”

A winner on Friday will mark the seventh time in the game’s history that a jackpot in excess of $1 billion has been won.

Previous winners were in South Carolina in October 2018 ($1.537 billion), Michigan in January 2021 ($1.050 billion), Illinois in July 2022 ($1.337 billion), Maine in January 2023 ($1.348 billion), Florida in August 2023 ($1.602 billion), and most recently in New Jersey in March 2024 ($1.128 billion).

It took the New Jersey winner nine months to emerge and claim the now sixth-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history.

The unidentified winner — who will remain anonymous — submitted the golden ticket worth $1.128 billion to start the fundraising process, NBC New York reported Monday.

Tickets to play Mega Millions are $2 with drawings at 11:00 PM on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia.

The chances of taking home the sum of 1 billion dollars are one in 302,575,350.