With no jackpot winners on the last Mega Millions drawing on Nov. 11, the prize is now just short of $1 billion.
The next Mega Millions jackpot is currently worth $965 million, with a cash option of $445.3 million.
“It’s the eighth largest jackpot since the game began in 2002, below only the seven previous billion-dollar jackpots Mega Millions has awarded,” according to a release from Mega Millions.
The release continues, “The most recent to reach this lofty level was ultimately a $1.269 billion prize won in California on (Dec. 27, 2024). After four jackpot wins in the first half of this year, Friday’s drawing will be the 40th drawing in this run, a game record, since it was last won in Virginia on June 27.”
While no one won the jackpot, there were over “809,030 winning tickets across all prize tiers” in the Nov. 11 drawing, according to the lottery.
The next drawing is Friday, Nov. 14 at 11 p.m.
Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays from Atlanta. You can watch them on the official Mega Millions YouTube channel.
If no one wins, the jackpot will continue to grow.
According to the game’s website, “Players may pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers – five different numbers from 1 to 70 (the white balls) and one number from 1 to 24 (the gold Mega Ball) – or select Easy Pick/Quick Pick. You win the jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in a drawing. In the event of multiple jackpot winners, the jackpot prize will be shared.”
There are other prizes in addition to the jackpot. The smallest prize to win is $10.
Mega Millions tickets are $5 each and can be played in 45 states, Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets can be purchased until 10:45 p.m. on the night of a given drawing.
According to a recent study by Hard Rock Bet, more than 1,600 Mega Millions draws from the past 15 years were analyzed to identify the most frequently drawn numbers.
“The results? Number 20 was the top white ball number (drawn 149 times), followed by 10 (148 times), and 31 (147 times),” according to a release about the study. “For the gold Mega Ball, number 9 came out on top (drawn 80 times), followed by 11 (77 times), and 1 (76 times).”