$1.35B Mega Millions Jackpot: How To Play Historic Game In PA

PENNSYLVANIA — The Mega Millions saga will continue on Friday night as a $1.35 million jackpot, the second largest in the history of the game, is up for grabs. It's been rolling since it was last won in Oct. 2022.

To participate in Friday’s drawing, players in Pennsylvania must purchase their tickets by 9:59 p.m. Drawings are held at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Fridays.

"We’re reminding our players that it only takes one ticket to win, and the proceeds are helping us generate funds for programs that benefit older Pennsylvanians," Pennsylvania Lottery Executive Director Drew Svitko said in a statement.

The only jackpot ever that was larger was in $1.537 billion, when a winning ticket was sold in South Carolina on Oct. 23, 2018.

Drawings are announced live in Pennsylvania on the following local stations:

• Philadelphia: WTXF Ch. 29 Lottery Results at 11:00 p.m.
• Pittsburgh: WPXI Ch. 11 Lottery Results at 11:11 p.m.
• Wilkes-Barre/Scranton: WNEP Ch. 16 Lottery Results at 11:00 p.m.
• Harrisburg/Lancaster/York: WGAL Ch. 8 Lottery Results at 11:20 p.m.
• Johnstown/Altoona/State College: WTAJ Ch. 10 Lottery Results at 11:20 p.m.
• Erie: WJET Ch. 24 Lottery Results at 11:20 p.m.

Three lottery players or groups in Pennsylvania have claimed more than $700 million since 2002, according to Mega Millions records. A $516 million jackpot was won in 2021, $153 million in 2015, and $149 million in 2014.

Although jackpot winners can choose to be paid through an annuity, with annual checks over 29 years, nearly all take the cash payout. For Friday’s drawing, that’s an estimated $707.9 million.

Friday night’s jackpot is the second-largest in the history of the game. The game’s record prize of $1.537 billion, was won in South Carolina on Oct. 23, 2018.

A player in Illinois claimed a $1.337 billion ticket in the July 29 drawing. The only other Mega Millions jackpot worth more than a billion dollars was claimed by a player in Michigan on Jan. 22, 2021.

Long streaks without a winner allow jackpots to grow larger week after week. The last time the Mega Millions jackpot was claimed was Oct. 14, when two winners in San Jose, California, and Fort Myers, Florida, shared in a $502 million jackpot.

Some of the other big Mega Millions jackpots include:

• $656 million, shared by three players in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland in March 2012
• $648 million, shared by two players in California and Georgia in December 2013
• $543 million, won by a California player in July 2018
• $536 million, won an Indiana player in July 2016
• $533 million, won by a player in New Jersey in March 2018
• $522 million, won by a player in California in June 2019

Although weeks without a winner cause the jackpot to grow, Tuesday’s is still a far cry from the record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot won in California on Nov. 8. The player has yet to come forward to claim the prize.

The Powerball game also claims the second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, but barely. A $1.59 billion prize in January 2016 was shared by three winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot — about 1 in 302.6 million — don’t increase with a flurry of ticket sales. But they are better than the odds a meteor will hit your house, according to a report from Business Insider. And the odds of a perfect NCAA basketball bracket chosen by a coin flip are 9,223,372,036,854,775,808, or 1 in 9.2 quintillion.

Although no one claimed the jackpot in the Tuesday, Jan. 10, drawing, 16 players matched the five white balls to win the game’s $1 million second-tier prize.

Across the country, 215 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Forty-one of those tickets are worth $30,000 each, because they included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 3X on Tuesday night. The other 174 third-tier winning tickets are worth $10,000 each.

No jackpot-winning tickets were sold for Tuesday night’s drawing. The winning numbers for the Jan. 10 drawing were 7, 13, 14, 15, 18 and the Mega Ball was 9.

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