14th Highest Mega Millions Jackpot at $340 Million for Friday
Thursday December 12th 2019The Mega Millions jackpot has hit $340 million ($230.8 million cash) for the next drawing on Friday, December 13. It's 14th largest prize in the game's history, and tied as the 34th biggest-ever U.S. lottery jackpot.
The jackpot climbed to its current level after no ticket matched the six numbers drawn on Tuesday: white balls 18, 31, 46, 54 and 61, and the gold Mega Ball 25. The top prize has been growing since it was last won at $227 million on September 24 by an anonymous player in Texas. The jackpot is now at its highest level since June 7, when it was hit at $522 million by California woman Laarni Bibal.
You may be surprised to learn that Friday the 13th might just be a lucky day; there have been six Mega Millions jackpots won on the date! Incredibly, tickets in Michigan claimed four of these jackpots: the latest was on October 13, 2017. The other two were hit in Ohio and New York. However, this Friday's top prize is the biggest of them all.
A big Mega Millions jackpot is turning into a holiday tradition - this is the third December in a row that the jackpot has climbed above $300 million. The past two festive seasons saw the jackpot won early in the New Year. On January 5, 2018, $451 million was won by Shane Missler in Port Richey, Florida, and on January 1, 2019, 23 co-workers in Long Island, New York shared a $437 million top prize.
The jackpot has gone off six times so far in 2019. As well as the wins in California, New York, and Texas, other jackpots awarded this year have been $273 million in New Jersey on March 1, $50 million in Missouri on March 12, and $168 million in New Hampshire's first-ever Mega Millions jackpot win on July 23.
The December 10 drawing didn't produce a jackpot winner, but there were a total of 915,526 winning tickets at other prize tiers - so make sure to check your tickets and see if you've scored a win.
The biggest winners on Tuesday were two $1 million Match 5 tickets in California and Wisconsin that matched all five white balls to win the Mega Millions second prize.
25 players hit the $10,000 third prize by matching four of the white balls plus the Mega Ball. Four of those actually won $20,000 each because they added the Megaplier option, which was 2X on Tuesday.
Since the last jackpot win on September 24, there have been over 11.4 million winning tickets, including 17 worth $1 million or above.
The last time the jackpot was actually won this month was on December 17, 2013, when the very lucky winner got a $648 million Christmas present - the third-largest prize in Mega Millions history! Are we overdue for another big December win this year?
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