to protect yourself from scammers fraudulently using the Mega Millions name.
The winning numbers drawn for Friday's Mega Millions drawing were 11, 28, 31, 46 and 59. The Mega Ball number was 1. The multi-state lottery's jackpot was $521 million, the fourth-largest lottery prize in the game's history.
The $521 million prize is how much a single winner would receive if paid over 29 years. Opting for a one-time cash payout would reduce the amount to $317 million.
Mega Millions drawings are held Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. Friday's Mega Millions drawing offered players a chance to spend $2 to try to correctly pick the correct number of five balls valued 1 to 70 and the number and a "Mega ball," numbered from 1 to 25.
Jackpot winners must match all six numbers in a drawing. Tuesday night, two winning tickets matched five of the numbers. Each of the winning ticket owners, from Illinois and New Jersey, won $1 million. Mega Millions can be played in 44 states, the District of Columbia and the U. S. Virgin Islands.
The odds of winning the over half a billion dollars in tonight's progressive jackpot were 302.5 million to one. For comparison, the odds of winning "scratchers" - those little instant winning tickets that you can buy for prices ranging from $1 to $50 - are better, but it's still no way to get rich.
Largest lottery jackpots in the U.S.
Here are the 10 largest U.S. jackpots drawn so far and the states where the winning tickets were sold:
More than half a billion dollars is on the table in Friday night's Mega Millions lotto drawing.
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The winning numbers, drawn at 11 p.m. on Friday, are 59-46-28-11-31 and a Megaball of 1.
No one has won the jackpot in two months.
This is the fourth time in the game's history that the jackpot has exceeded $500 million. The prize is now worth $521 million, with a cash payout of $317 million before taxes.
The March 27 drawing numbers were 7-25-43-56-59 and the Megaball was 13. Two tickets in Illinois and New Jersey matched five of the numbers. Those ticket holders won $1 million each.
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“Jackpot rolls are always exciting, but surpassing the $500 million mark for only the fourth time is a historic milestone,” Gordon Medenica, Mega Millions lead director and Maryland Lottery gaming director, said in a press release. “Large jackpots like this one capture everyone’s attention, and it would be great to see the roll go on for a while longer. But at the same time, we can’t wait to see someone win.”
The largest Mega Millions jackpot in history was $656 million in March 2012. Three separate winners from Kansas, Maryland and Illinois shared the prize.
Friday's Mega Millions top prize of $521 million could be the 10th largest in U.S. lottery history if someone buys a jackpot winning ticket.
The winning numbers are: 11, 28, 31, 46, 59. Mega Ball is 1. The MegaPlier is 3x.
It offers a cash option of $317 million. The annuity prize is the fourth largest in the 16-year run of Mega Millions.
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Tonight is also the six-year anniversary of the largest Mega Millions jackpot. On March 30, 2012, three ticket holders split a $656 million prize. The lucky tickets were bought in Illinois, Maryland and Kansas.
No one has captured the Mega Millions jackpot since Jan. 5 when Shane Missler, 20, of Port Richey, Florida won the $451 million prize. Since then, 35 tickets of at least $1 million have been sold nationwide.
Tuesday's $458 million drawing didn't produce a jackpot winner, but two tickets, including one sold in New Jersey, matched five numbers but not the Mega Ball. The $1 million New Jersey ticket was purchased at Quick Chek in Bedminster. There were also three tickets worth $10,000 sold in the state -- in Oakland, Belleville and Secaucus.
A Mega Millions ticket costs $2. The odds of a ticket matching five numbers and the Mega Ball are 302,575,350 to 1. It's a 1 in 12,607,306 shot to win the second prize of at least $1 million by matching five numbers.
Mega Millions is played in 44 states, Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are held on Tuesday and Friday.
