Those hoping for an early gift on Christmas Eve may have been disappointed when no winning ticket was drawn for the Mega Millions jackpot. But the prize has now grown to an estimated $1.15 billion — which could be the fifth-largest jackpot in the game’s history, according to Mega Millions.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in an online statement.

The tickets sell for $2 each, and the company says half of the proceeds from the sale of each ticket stay in the state where the ticket was sold.

The company also said the Mega Millions jackpot has been won only three times so far in 2024.

The highest ever won in a Mega Millions jackpot was $1.6 billion in 2023. The winning ticket was sold in Florida.

The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 302,575,35, according to Mega Millions. The odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime are one in 15,300 according to the National Weather Service.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2024/12/25/mega-millions-jackpot-surges-past-dollar1-billion/