The Mega Millions jackpot has once again increased, nearing $1 billion in value, after no tickets won the grand prize during Tuesday’s drawing.
Those who wish to play can purchase a ticket for just $2 and pick numbers ranging between 1 and 70 for five white balls. The final sixth ball — the gold Mega Ball — ranges from 1 to 25 and is necessary to win the jackpot, which currently sits at $910 million.
The cash payout option for the jackpot is $464.2 million.
Nine prizes are available based on which balls match those drawn. The smallest prize is worth $2 for those who correctly guess the Mega Ball, while the largest prize is the jackpot for anyone who correctly guesses all six balls.
Tuesday’s drawing yielded the numbers 3, 5, 6, 44, and 61, with a gold Mega Ball of 25, according to Mega Millions.
There were a total of 2,519,403 winning tickets between the nine prize tiers, including two tickets that matched the five white balls to win $1 million, according to a press release from Mega Millions. One of the two tickets was sold in Texas and is worth $4 million due to the optional multiplier that adjusts the winnings of all non-jackpot tiers.
A Texan also won a $1 million prize in the June 30 drawing, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Another 54 tickets won the third-tier prize — worth $10,000 — by matching four white balls and the Mega Ball. Seven of those prizes were adjusted to $40,000 due to the multiplier added to the tickets, per the Mega Millions press release.
Mega Millions states that there is a 1 in 24 chance to win one of the nine available prizes. However, the chances of winning the game’s jackpot are extremely low, at just one in 302.5 million. Even winning $1 million is tough, with the odds being just one in 12.6 million.
The jackpot has continued to grow since April 18, the last time a ticket won the grand prize. Friday’s drawing will be the 29th consecutive, and the $910 million jackpot would be the fifth-largest in the game’s history, according to the Mega Millions press release.
The largest jackpot to date was won on October 23, 2018, and was worth an astonishing $1.537 billion.
Tickets are available in 45 states, Washington D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings for the Mega Millions occur every Tuesday and Friday at 10 p.m. CT.
