End-of-Year Jackpot Surges to $640 Million

RELEASE DATE: 12/28/2022

The very last Mega Millions® jackpot to be offered in 2022 is a big one! The estimated prize for the next drawing on Friday, December 30, is $640 million ($328.3 million cash). It’s by far the largest Mega Millions prize ever offered in the final week of any year, and could provide someone with a very happy New Year’s celebration. The jackpot keeps rolling after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night – the white balls 9, 13, 36, 59 and 61, plus the gold Mega Ball 11.

The Mega Millions jackpot has soared past $600 million just five other times in its more than 20-year history. First was a $656 million prize on March 30, 2012, which set a record at the time for the biggest lottery jackpot ever won. Shared by winners in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland, that record lasted almost four years. Next came a $648 million jackpot on December 17, 2013, shared by winners in California and Georgia. Almost five years later, the game shot past the $1 billion mark for the first time, with a single winner in South Carolina taking home a $1.537 billion prize on October 23, 2018. That remains the record Mega Millions jackpot, although two more jackpots have also hit 10 figures: $1.05 billion won in Michigan on January 22, 2021, and $1.337 billion won in Illinois last July 29. Find a complete list of jackpot winners here.

In the 21 drawings since the jackpot was last won on October 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.

In the December 27 drawing, there were 1,945,697 winning tickets at all prize levels, including five that matched the five white balls to win the game’s second-tier prize. Two of those were sold in California, with one each in Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. Across the country, 44 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Three of those tickets are worth $20,000 each, as they included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 2X on Tuesday night. The other 41 third-tier winning tickets are worth $10,000 each.

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.

The top Mega Millions jackpots to date: