Mega Millions Jackpot Surges Into All-Time Top Ten

The Mega Millions jackpot has soared past $600 million following a run of more than two and a half months without a winner. It now ranks as the ninth-largest in history, with the potential to go even higher in the list.

So far in 2024 there have only been two jackpot winners. A player from New Jersey landed $1.13 billion back in March, before someone from Illinois became the game’s biggest-ever online winner when they banked $560 million on June 4th.

The grand prize has been steadily rising since then, and now stands at an estimated $627 million ahead of the draw on Friday August 30th.

It still has a long way to go to eclipse the all-time record, but ticket sales usually increase quickly once the jackpot reaches this level. It might therefore only take a few more draws before it tops $1 billion again.

The largest Mega Millions jackpot to date was worth $1.602 billion and went to Saltines Holdings, LLC of Florida in August 2023.

Changes on the Way?

Big jackpots are set to become more and more common in future, with changes set to be made in April 2025.

There are proposals for the starting jackpot to be raised and for the ticket price to go up from $2 to $5. Included in this cost would be an automatic multiplier (replacing the optional Megaplier which costs an extra $1).

The new multiplier will increase prize amounts by up to 10 times their initial amount, making it possible to win $10 million without even matching all the numbers.

A change to the matrix is also expected, with the ball pool for the Mega Balls set to be reduced from 25 to 24. This will actually improve the odds of winning.

In the meantime, draws will continue to be held every Tuesday and Friday night, and you can see the winning numbers as soon as they are available.

Published: Thursday, August 29, 2024