The upcoming drawing Tuesday is expected to be the second largest in Mega Millions history
After Friday’s drawing came and went without a big winner, the Mega Millions jackpot is set to grow to $654 million.
If the jackpot exceeds those estimates, it could easily become the largest jackpot in Mega Millions history by the next drawing on Tuesday. The current record was set in March 2012 when a $656 million prize was split among three tickets.
If someone had won Friday’s drawing, it would have been the third-largest in Mega Millions history. The largest lottery jackpot ever won though was worth $1.586 billion on Jan. 13, 2016.
The winning numbers for Friday night’s drawing were 4, 24, 46, 61 and 70, plus the gold Mega Ball 7 and the 3x Megaplier. A ticket sold in Arkansas won the game’s second prize after matching five balls — worth $3 million rather than the standard $1 million in this case because the buyer had decided to include the optional Megaplier.
Another 55 tickets matched four balls to win the $10,000 third prize. Of those, seven tickets included the Megaplier, raising their winnings to $30,000.
The Mega Millions jackpot’s current run began back in July after a winning ticket was purchased by a group of 11 Wells Fargo WFC, +1.30% employees from San Jose, Calif.
Winners can accept the prize as an annuity to be paid out over nearly three decades, or they can choose to receive a lump-sum cash payment. The lump sum is the current value of the jackpot in cash — for Tuesday’s drawing, that figure is expected to be nearly $373 million.