RELEASE DATE: 3/23/2024
For the sixth time in less than six years, the Mega Millions® jackpot has topped $1 billion! After 30 drawings without a jackpot win, the big prize is currently estimated at $1.1 billion ($525.8 million cash) for the next drawing on Tuesday, March 26. The jackpot continues to roll after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Friday night – the white balls 3, 8, 31, 35 and 44, plus the gold Mega Ball 16. If the jackpot is won next Tuesday, it would be the fifth largest prize in the history of the game.
“Lottery fever continues to spread throughout the country,” said Georgia Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium. “Large jackpots provide entertainment and winnings for our players nationwide while contributing to the beneficiary programs funded by each lottery. We appreciate our players and dedicated retailers, and we encourage everyone to play responsibly.”
There were a total of 2,564,114 winning tickets across all prize tiers in the March 22 drawing. Six tickets matched the five white balls to win the game’s second-tier prize. One, sold in Virginia, is worth $3 million because it included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 3X Friday night. The other five, one each in California, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska and Texas, win the standard second-tier prize. Across the country, 80 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Twelve of those are worth $30,000 each because they also included the optional Megaplier. The other 68 third-tier winning tickets take home the standard $10,000 each.
Since the Mega Millions jackpot was last won on December 8 with two tickets in California, there have been more than 26.2 million winning tickets across all prize tiers. These include 43 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, won in 20 different jurisdictions from coast to coast: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.
Mega Millions is the only lottery game that has now ventured into billion-dollar territory six times. To date, five jackpots exceeding $1 billion have been awarded – all in different states. South Carolina was the first in 2018, followed by Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine in early 2023 and Florida last August. The latter prize is the game’s current record jackpot at $1.602 billion.
Tickets are $2 each and are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In most jurisdictions, players can add the Megaplier for an additional $1 to multiply their non-jackpot prizes. Half of the proceeds from the sale of each Mega Millions ticket remains in the state where the ticket was sold, where the money supports designated good causes and retailer commissions.
Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia. The overall odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24; the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
See the complete Mega Millions jackpot history.
The top Mega Millions jackpots:
| Amount |
Date |
Winning Tickets |
| $1.602 billion |
8/8/2023 |
1-FL |
| $1.537 billion |
10/23/2018 |
1-SC |
| $1.348 billion |
1/13/2023 |
1-ME |
| $1.337 billion |
7/29/2022 |
1-IL |
| $1.100 billion (est) |
3/26/2024 |
? |
| $1.050 billion |
1/22/2021 |
1-MI |
| $656 million |
3/30/2012 |
3-IL, KS, MD |
| $648 million |
12/17/2013 |
2-CA, GA |
| $543 million |
7/24/2018 |
1-CA |
| $536 million |
7/8/2016 |
1-IN |
Mega Millions national media contacts:
Tandi Reddick, Georgia Lottery Corp., (404) 215-5019
J.B. Landroche, Georgia Lottery Corp., (404) 215-5014