The Mega Millions® jackpot is the talk of the country! Anticipation is building as the jackpot continues to grow, and the estimated prize for the next drawing on Tuesday, July 26, is an incredible $790 million ($464.4 million cash). The jackpot rolled again after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Friday night: the white balls 14, 40, 60, 64 and 66, plus the gold Mega Ball 16.
There have been only three lottery jackpots ever won – in any game – at a higher level than next Tuesday’s estimated prize of $790 million. Two were Mega Millions jackpots – $1.537 billion won in South Carolina on October 23, 2018, and $1.050 billion won in Michigan on January 22, 2021. The current world record lottery prize is a $1.586 billion Powerball® jackpot won on January 13, 2016.
While the Mega Millions jackpot remains elusive, there were still millions of winners in Friday night’s drawing – a total of 3,428,412 winning tickets at all prize levels. Four tickets matched the five white balls to win the game’s second prize. Three of them are worth $3 million each because they included the optional Megaplier (a $1 extra purchase available in most states), which was 3X Friday night; they were sold in Delaware, New Jersey and New York. The remaining Match 5 winning ticket, worth $1 million, was sold in Virginia. The $3 million Delaware ticket represents the largest Mega Millions prize ever won in that state!
For matching four white balls plus the Mega Ball in the July 22 drawing, 105 tickets win the game’s third prize. Sixteen of those are worth $30,000 each because they also included the optional Megaplier. The other 89 third-prize tickets win $10,000 each.
In the 28 drawings since the jackpot was last won in Tennessee on April 15, there have been almost 21.4 million winning tickets at all prize levels, including 33 worth $1 million or more. Those big prizes have been won in 17 states across the country: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.
Four Mega Millions jackpots have been won so far this year. In addition to the most recent Tennessee win at $15 million on April 15, jackpots were won in California ($426 million on January 28), New York ($128 million on March 8) and Minnesota ($110 million on April 12; that state’s very first Mega Millions jackpot win).
The top Mega Millions jackpots to date:
Amount Date Winning Tickets
$1.537 billion 10/23/2018 1-SC
$1.050 billion 1/22/2021 1-MI
$790 million (est) 7/26/2022 ?
$656 million 3/30/2012 3-IL, KS, MD
$648 million 12/17/2013 2-CA, GA
$543 million 7/24/2018 1-CA
$536 million 7/8/2016 1-IN
$533 million 3/30/2018 1-NJ
$522 million 6/7/2019 1-CA
$516 million 5/21//2021 1-PA
