A Mega Millions wagering slip is held in Cranberry Township, Pa., Jan. 12, 2023. The Mega Millions top prize has jumped to an estimated $820 million after there was no grand prize winner in the latest drawing, late Friday, July 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
Mega Millions has upped the ante by another $100 million.
The lack of a jackpot winner in the lottery game's latest drawing on Friday night sent the top prize soaring to an estimated $820 million.
The numbers drawn late Friday were: 29, 40, 47, 50, 57 and gold Mega Ball 25. No tickets were sold hitting all those numbers for the estimated grand prize of $720 million.
The estimated $820 million in the next drawing on Tuesday night would only be distributed to a winner who chooses an annuity paid over 29 years. Nearly all grand prize winners opt to take a cash payout, which for Tuesdays drawing is an estimated $422 million.
The potential jackpot is the fifth largest in the history of the game, Mega Millions said in a statement early Saturday.
Despite the game’s long odds of 1 in 302.6 million, players continue to purchase tickets as the size of the grand prize grows.
The last time a Mega Millions player hit the top prize was April 18.
Friday's drawing resulted in eight tickets matching five white balls for a $1 million prize. Two each were sold in Florida, New Jersey and North Carolina, with one in California and another in Michigan, Mega Millions said.
The Powerball jackpot also was approaching near-record levels before a tiny neighborhood store in downtown Los Angeles sold the winning ticket for Wednesday's drawing, worth an estimated $1.08 billion.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Kevin Spacey was acquitted of sexual assault on Wednesday after the Oscar winner’s star turn as a witness in his own defense spared him a possible prison term and gave him a shot at a career comeback.
A California appeals court on Wednesday will consider reviving the dismissed lawsuits of two men who allege Michael Jackson sexually abused them as children for years, a move the court appears likely to make after a tentative decision that would order the cases back to a lower court for trial.
An intense police search of the Long Island home of Rex Heuermann is now complete, authorities said Tuesday as they ended a 12-day hunt for evidence that involved ripping up the yard and the discovery of a basement vault containing hundreds of weapons kept by the man accused of killing at least three women more than a decade ago.
A towering construction crane caught fire high above the west side of Manhattan on Wednesday morning, then lost its long arm, which smashed against a nearby building, dangled and then plummeted to the street as people ran for their lives on the sidewalk below.