$640M Mega Millions Jackpot: What To Know In NJ

NEW JERSEY — An estimated $640 million Mega Millions jackpot is up for grabs in Friday’s drawing after Tuesday marked the 21st straight contest without a winner.

No ticket matched all six numbers from Tuesday night — the white balls 9, 13, 36, 59 and 61, plus the gold Mega Ball 11. Drawings take place at 11 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays. New Jersey participants must purchase tickets before 10:45 p.m. on those nights.

If Friday’s drawing generates a jackpot winner, they could receive an annuity, doled out through annual payments over 29 years. Nearly all winners take the cash option, which for Friday's drawing will be an estimated $328.3 million.

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The prize exceeds the state record for the largest lottery jackpot won — a $533 million Mega Millions jackpot for a ticket sold in 2018, according to lotto.com.

New Jersey hasn't generated a Mega Millions jackpot winner since 2020, when the state had two. One ticket sold that February in Edison netted a $202 million jackpot ($142.6 million in cash), while a ticket sold the following July in Bayonne won a $123 million jackpot ($100.1 million in cash).

The huge Mega Millions jackpot comes less than two months after a record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot was won in California on Nov. 8. The player has yet to come forward to claim the prize.

The reason for all the big prizes is simple — long odds of 1 in 302.6 million ensure there are few winners, and the long streaks of lottery futility allow jackpots to grow ever larger week after week.

In the 21 drawings since the jackpot was last won on Oct. 14, there have been more than 17 million winning tickets at all prize levels. These include 40 worth $1 million or more, won in 18 different states from coast to coast: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.