Thirty Mega Millions drawings in a row have passed without a jackpot winner. More importantly, the long jackpot drought means that the game’s top prize has reached $1.05 billion for tonight’s drawing, Tuesday, Aug. 1.
The jackpot, with a cash value of $527.9 million, ranks as the 4th largest in the history of Mega Millions and ranks in the top ten largest jackpots of any lottery game.
Mega Millions has contributed four of the top ten largest jackpots, and the current prize is the fifth to reach the $1 billion mark. There’s a chance that the current jackpot could catch up to the largest Mega Millions prize ever awarded, which was $1.537 billion to one lucky player in 2018. If the jackpot eludes players once again on Tuesday night, the prize will continue to climb with the potential to hit record levels.
Mega Millions drawings are held twice per week on Tuesdays and Fridays. Check the winning numbers here after the drawing at 11 p.m. ET.
Pennsylvania players can now buy tickets online at the PA iLottery website or mobile app. Online tickets offer automatic notifications if you win a prize, so you never miss out on potential winnings.
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Recent Mega Millions winners
In the previous drawing on Friday night, players were vying for a $940 million prize, and a number of tickets came within one number of winning it all. However, the odds of matching 5 numbers are significantly better than the odds of matching all six.
One ticket in Pennsylvania won a rare $5 million prize by matching the first five white balls, with the optional $1 Megaplier ticket option. The Megaplier multiplies any prizes won, aside from the jackpot. The Megaplier drawn on Friday was 5x the least common multiplier.
Four other tickets matched the first five white balls to win $1 million each, without the Megaplier option. Those tickets were sold in Arizona, California, New York and Pennsylvania.
Odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot
As a general rule of thumb, the larger a potential gambling payout is, the less likely you are to win it. Though the odds don’t change as the Mega Millions jackpot grows, it is a multi-state game that sells millions of tickets for every drawing. As it sits today, with 30 drawings in a row without a winner, you can see just how rare it is to win that prize.
To be exact, the odds of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot on a single ticket are 1 in 302,575,350.
The chances of winning the second-tier prize of $1 million or more are 1 in 12,607,306. There are nine total prize tiers, with better odds and lower prizes as you go down the list. The lower prizes are less impressive, but it pays to always check your tickets.
Top Ten largest lottery jackpots in US history
AMOUNTGAMEDATEWINNING STATE
1. $2.04 billionPowerballNov. 7, 2022California
2. $1.586 billionPowerballJan. 13, 2016California, Florida and Tennessee
3. $1.537 billionMega MillionsOct. 23, 2018South Carolina
4. $1.35 billionMega MillionsJan. 13, 2023Maine
5. $1.337 billionMega MillionsJuly 29, 2022Illinois
6. $1.05 billionMega MillionsJan. 22, 2021Michigan
7. $1 billionPowerballJuly 19, 2023California
8. $768.4 millionPowerballMarch 27, 2019Wisconsin
9. $758.7 millionPowerballAug. 23, 2017Massachusetts
10. $754.6 millionPowerballFeb. 6, 2023Washington
