The jackpot for Friday’s Mega Millions drawing has grown to the eighth-highest in the game’s history. At $843 million, the prize is fueling ticket sales among regular lottery players in Illinois and others dreaming about what they’d do if they became overnight multimillionaires.
The massive jackpot, which has a cash value of $391.7 million, grew after no one matched all six numbers in Tuesday’s drawing: the white balls 11, 14, 17, 50 and 57, plus the gold Mega Ball 6.
To play the lottery game in Illinois, residents 21 and older can buy tickets at any participating Illinois Lottery location or buy a ticket on the Illinois Lottery Mega Millions page. The next drawing will be held Nov. 7 at 10 p.m. CST.
Tickets are $5 each, with a built-in multiplier feature added in April that automatically increases non-jackpot prizes by 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10 times. Previously, the base ticket was $2, and the multiplier was an optional $1 add-on in most states.
The rule changes were designed to produce larger, faster-growing jackpots and more non-jackpot prizes The changes slightly improved the odds of winning the jackpot, from 1 in 302,575,350 to 1 in 290,472,336, achieved by decreasing the gold Mega Ball pool from 25 to 24 numbers.
The odds of winning any prize also improved, from 1 in 24 to 1 in 23.
Friday’s drawing is the 38th since the jackpot was last won in Virginia on June 27. It’s the longest streak without a jackpot winner since the game began in 2002, and the previous record of 37 drawings was set in January 2021, when a $1.050 billion jackpot was won in Michigan.
Mega Millions said 606,046 winning tickets valued at more than $12.2 million were sold across all prize tiers in Tuesday’s drawing, including 12 tickets that matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win third-tier prizes ranging from $20,000 to $40,000, depending on their multiplier. Those tickets were sold in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming.
In this jackpot run to date, there have been almost 11.7 million winning tickets at all levels, with total prizes exceeding $274 million due to significant enhancements to lower-tier prizes in changes made to the game last April, Mega Millions said
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Why Mega Millions is trending  CNN
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Photo: Getty Images
Saturday’s (November 8) Powerball jackpot will be worth an estimated $467 million after zero players matched all six numbers during the $440 million drawing Wednesday (November 5) night.
Results from Wednesday’s Powerball game are listed below:
NUMBERS: 9-17-29-61-66
POWERBALL: 26
POWER PLAY: 5x
Two players won the $1.79 billion Powerball drawing on September 6. Tickets purchased in Missouri and Texas matched all five white numbers and the red Powerball, resetting the next drawing to $20 million ($10.2 million cash value) for September 8.
Saturday’s drawing was the second largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history, behind only the $2.04 billion Powerball drawing on November 7, 2022. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are reported to be 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball.com.
The jackpot winner was the first since one player won the $205 million Powerball drawing on May 31. The Powerball had previously reset after one player won the $167 million Powerball drawing on April 26.
One player in California matched all six numbers to win the $2.04 billion ($997.6 million) jackpot on November 7, 2022, the largest jackpot offered in U.S. lottery history, according to the official Powerball website. Powerball has had jackpots exceeding $1 billion six times.
Mega Millions games have also exceeded $1 billion seven times, which includes its largest offering, a $1.603 billion jackpot that was one by a player in Florida on August 8. Both jackpots increase during each following game until there’s a jackpot winning ticket matching all six numbers drawn, which includes the additional Mega Millions Gold Ball or Powerball in each respective game.

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More from The Sun
Under-threat venues are as much community centres as gambling houses, with Tooting’s art-deco site a cathedral to bingo
IT’S Monday night in Tooting and a crackle of anticipation ripples through the vast art-deco temple to bingo as “eyes down” is called.
Armed with a dabber and a book of bingo cards in the packed house of 420 regulars, I’m soon struggling hopelessly to keep up with the frenetic flow of numbers.
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Yet grandmother Chantal Ramon assures me that a night at Buzz Bingo is not all about winning.
In fact, this sprawling Grade 1- listed South London venue, which once hosted performances by The Beatles and Frank Sinatra, is as much a community centre as it is a gambling house.
Widow Chantal, 78, who has driven five miles from the South London suburb of Sutton for her bingo fix, revealed: “It’s a lovely place, just to socialise and relax.
“It’s especially important to me since I lost my husband Jose.
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“Instead of sitting at home in front of the box, I come out and meet people.
“I’ve been coming for 30 years and try to get here five days a week. The staff miss me if I’m not here — it’s nice to know.”
Now, like many here, she is worried Chancellor Rachel Reeves will launch a raid on gambling taxes in her November 26 Budget that could force bingo halls to shutter for good.
Backing The Sun’s Save Our Bets campaign, she added: “I don’t drink or smoke, Bingo is the one little pleasure I have.
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“Putting more tax on bingo is not fair on older people. If this place closed, it would uproot so many lives.”
With online bingo and slot gaming machines also part of its gambling portfolio, Buzz Bingo fears a mauling in this month’s Budget.
CEO Dominic Mansour, 49, revealed: “Last year we paid around £63million to the taxman — almost a third of our entire year’s turnover.
“We are still recovering from the National Insurance hit we took last year, and any further tax rises would be existential for our business.”
The Buzz Bingo chief says it would not just threaten his 2,500 staff but the painters, builders and decorators working on a current £50million refurbishment of the firm’s clubs.
The company is already clobbered with at least four different gambling taxes. There are fears that the Chancellor could raise some levies to as much as 50 per cent.
Miss the Tower of London if you have to — but don’t miss this.
It currently has 79 bingo halls, on high streets from Aberdeen to Plymouth — down from 137 before Covid hit. Some four million players still visit every year.
But the jewel in the crown is undoubtedly Tooting.
It is a cathedral to bingo, with The Times calling its Gothic interior “as dazzling as the House of Lords”.
I am greeted at the sweeping stairwell at its entrance by genial general manager Shiva Jeevah, 60, who tells me: “This place wouldn’t have survived without bingo.”
Built as the Granada Tooting picture house in 1931, the art-deco masterpiece was considered Britain’s most spectacular cinema.
Architecture critic Ian Nairn said in his 1966 guide to London’s buildings: “Miss the Tower of London if you have to — but don’t miss this.”
In the 1950s it became a concert venue. Frank Sinatra played his first ever UK date here in 1953.
Other famous acts who beat a path to Tooting include The Beatles and Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Little Richard, Roy Orbison and The Beach Boys.
Shiva tells me he got his first job in a bingo hall shortly after arriving in the UK as a student from Sri Lanka 45 years ago. “Our customers are like a family,” he added. “If a regular is missing for a few days, me and my staff ask after them.
“A few years ago I hadn’t seen someone for a while and we went to the house and they were lying on the floor inside. The police broke the door down and saved her life.”
Clubs will struggle to stay open and it will end up with staff down the dole office.
Shiva says the clientele skews toward older people in the afternoons but in the evenings the Gen Z crowd come because “they like the prices”.
On Mondays, a burger or hot dog with chips is a fiver. A pint of Carling is £4.40. It is £32 to play for an evening session — with a paper book of bingo cards, and 12 chances to win £1,000, over the course of the night.
Shiva shows me to a table in the cavernous main hall where a bingo caller holds court on a raised platform.
In between games, the jaunty theme tune from TV’s Bullseye rings out.
A family of four — including two youngsters who look in their early twenties — sit on a table nearby.
Then we are off. In these politically correct times, the bingo lingo seems to have been dispensed with. There is “two fat ladies” or “your place or mine”.
Earlier, builder Malcolm Gillman had assured me bingo was a “game of chance”, with “no skill involved”.
I beg to differ, Malcolm.
Frantically dabbing at six cards’ worth of numbers, I am left trying to remember the digits I have not yet marked off.
Soon, from amid the rows of packed tables, a shout of “Yes!” rings out.
We have a winner and it is not me.
Malcolm, 65, who drives the eight miles from Purley to Tooting three times a week to play, added: “If your numbers come up, you win. It’s as simple as that. I won £3,500 here one evening.
“I’ve been coming here since I was 20. It’s a great night out — you meet so many people.”
As for a potential tax raid on bingo by Ms Reeves, he added: “Clubs will struggle to stay open and it will end up with staff down the dole office.
“It will mean less tax for the Chancellor in the long run.
“Pubs are going, too. We’ll all end up sitting indoors doing nothing.”
Sisters Rose Miller, 70, and Marilyn McDonald, 71, have been coming to bingo for more than 40 years.
Rose said: “It’s a lovely family atmosphere here.”
Marilyn — whose biggest bingo win was £10,000 — added: “You make so many friends.
“I absolutely support The Sun’s Save Our Bets. The Chancellor should leave bingo alone.”
Mum-of-one Rose agrees, adding: “We love an evening out here.
“We’re spending our own cash which we’ve worked hard for and which has already been taxed.”
Grainne Hurst, chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, warns the close-knit community of bingo enthusiasts like the one I witnessed in Tooting is under threat from any tax hikes.
She said: “Campaigners are calling for a 138-per-cent tax hike on gaming.
“Such a move would punish ordinary players and put at risk the jobs and investment that support this much-loved pastime.”
For many I spoke to in South London, Buzz Bingo is more like a second home.
Retired chef Jennifer Welch Austin, 64, who visits as often as four times a week, revealed: “I meet friends here and the staff are lovely.
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“Shiva comes around offering cups of tea.
“If this place closed, I’d miss it so much.”
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Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/

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Mega Millions prize climbs to game’s eighth-highest amount  WFMJ.com
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Intuitive Investments Group Plc ( (GB:IIG) ) has issued an announcement.

Intuitive Investments Group plc has reported significant progress in its primary investment, Hui10, which is advancing the digital transformation of the Chinese lottery market. Hui10 has expanded its operations across China, increasing its infrastructure and partnerships, and has seen substantial growth in key performance metrics, such as connected lottery shops and registered users. The company plans further expansion and fundraising to support its growth and capitalize on policy changes allowing paperless lottery play. This strategic positioning is expected to enhance Hui10’s market presence and drive further growth in lottery sales and merchandise revenues.
Spark’s Take on GB:IIG Stock
According to Spark, TipRanks’ AI Analyst, GB:IIG is a Neutral.
Intuitive Investments Group Plc faces considerable financial challenges, with declining revenues and negative cash flows posing significant risks. The weak technical indicators and overvaluation concerns further weigh on the stock. However, recent corporate events, particularly Hui10’s strategic expansions, offer potential growth avenues that could provide future upside if successfully executed.
To see Spark’s full report on GB:IIG stock, click here.
More about Intuitive Investments Group Plc
Intuitive Investments Group plc (IIG) is an investment company that focuses on providing investors with exposure to fast-growing or high-potential businesses, primarily in the UK, continental Europe, the US, and the APAC region. The company aims to generate long-term capital growth for shareholders by leveraging the Board’s experience. One of its primary investments is Hui10, a technology company involved in the digital transformation of the Chinese lottery market.
Average Trading Volume: 52,497
Technical Sentiment Signal: Sell
Current Market Cap: £218.2M

For an in-depth examination of IIG stock, go to TipRanks’ Overview page.

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NEW YORK LOTTERY-MCCANN-MEGA MILLIONS  Buffalo News
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Powerball Jackpot Crosses $450 Million—Here’s How Much The Winner Could Take Home After Taxes  Forbes
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