This Christmas Eve could bring an unforgettable gift for one lucky lottery player, as the Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $944 million — the largest December prize
in the game's history.
After no one claimed the jackpot in Friday's drawing, the grand prize for Tuesday has grown from $862 million to $944 million, according to Mega Millions officials. The winner will have the option of receiving the full prize through annuitized payments or opting for a lump sum of approximately $429.4 million.
Friday’s drawing yielded the numbers 2, 20, 51, 56, 67, with a Mega Ball of 19. While no ticket matched all six numbers, five tickets earned $1 million each by matching the first five. These winning tickets were sold in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, as reported by the Mega Millions website.
The Christmas Eve drawing is part of what Mega Millions is calling its “most unusual jackpot year.” Since the game's inception in 2002, this is the first time all jackpots won within a single year have ranked among the top 10 largest prizes ever awarded.
In 2023 alone, massive payouts included a $1.13 billion prize won in New Jersey in March, a $552 million jackpot claimed online by an Illinois player in June, and an $800 million prize awarded to a Houston-area resident in September after purchasing the winning ticket at a convenience store in Sugar Land, Texas.
December has historically been a lucky month for Mega Millions players, with 13 jackpots won during the holiday season. However, a Christmas Eve jackpot win has only occurred once before in the game's history.
Still, the odds of winning remain steep — approximately 1 in 302.5 million.
Joshua Johnston, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, noted a rise in ticket sales during the holiday season. “We tend to see more people buying tickets as they’re out shopping,” he told CNN.
“For just two bucks, you can spend a few days dreaming about what life would be like with that kind of money,” Johnston added. “That’s a lot of fun, especially during the holidays when there’s already a sense of magic in the air.”
Whether the magic of Christmas will deliver a winner this time remains to be seen. Photo by Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, Wikimedia commons.