Another Mega Millions record coming up? The jackpot jumps to $565 million

The largest Mega Millions jackpot ever offered in the last week of any calendar year is set for Tuesday, December 27.

That also makes it the sixth-largest Mega Millions prize offered in the history of the game.

The estimated prize jumps to $565 million ($293.6 million cash) after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Friday night.

The result was white balls 15, 21, 32, 38 and 62, plus the gold Mega Ball 8.

The jackpot has been rolling since it was last won on October 14, when tickets sold in California and Florida shared a $502 million prize.

In the 20 drawings since then, there have been more than 15 million winning tickets at all prize levels, including 35 worth $1 million or more.

Those big prizes have been 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.

Prizes

In the December 23 drawing alone, there were 1,289,527 winning tickets at all prize levels.

Two matched the five white balls to win the game’s second-tier prize; they were sold in California and Illinois.

A total of 31 tickets across the country matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize.

Four of those tickets are worth $40,000 each, as they included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 4X on Friday night. The other 27 third-tier winning tickets are worth $10,000 each.

Since Mega Millions began in May 2002, there have been 11 winning jackpots of $500 million or more, including three that exceeded $1 billion.

The current record jackpot is $1.537 billion, won in South Carolina on October 23, 2018.

JACKPOTS

Mega Millions jackpots of all sizes have been won so far in 2022.

There was a staggering $1.337 billion won in Illinois on July 29, a $502 million prize on October 14 shared by winning tickets in California and Florida, and even a $20 million win in Tennessee on April 15.

Other jackpots won this year were in California ($426 million on January 28), New York ($128 million on March 8), and Minnesota, which got its very first Mega Millions jackpot win on April 12 with a $110 million prize.