It has been over three months since Mega Millions has produced a big winner. Since then, the jackpot has been building.
In the meantime, Arizona Lottery officials say some folks are still cashing in despite not hitting the jackpot. Ahead of Tuesday night’s drawing, will we finally see someone take home the huge prize?
Someone in Arizona wins $1 million
One lottery player in Arizona was able to enjoy last Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing. According to Arizona Lottery officials, one ticket sold in the Grand Canyon State was a million-dollar winner.
The winning ticket was sold at the Chevron gas station near 48th Street and Broadway in Phoenix. The winning numbers were 2-31-32-37-70 and Mega Ball was 25. Just matching five numbers is worth $1 million. Four million-dollar winning Mega Millions tickets were sold last week. The other tickets were purchased in California, North Carolina and New Hampshire.
Winning tickets expire 180 days after the numbers are drawn, so this winner will have until January 15, 2023, to claim their prize. If the prize money is not claimed in time, it may end up in a few different places. Lottery officials say little more than half will go back into the prize pool. The rest will be spread out to several state beneficiaries.
Lottery players are advised to keep their tickets safe and sign them so they can keep the rights to their winnings.
$830 Million jackpot would be one of the largest in history
Following Friday’s drawing, the Mega Millions lottery reached an estimated $830 million since no player matched all six numbers. The amount marks the fourth-largest lottery jackpot ever. The cash option, which most jackpot winners choose instead of an annuity, is $487.9 million.
Mega Millions has produced four winners so far in 2022. This year’s largest jackpot came in January when a $426 million jackpot was claimed in California. Mega Millions is played in all states except Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada, Utah, and Alabama.
So, what are the odds you win the jackpot? It’s about a 1 in 303 million chance, according to Mega Millions. If those sound like odds you want to take, tune in to see if you drew the lucky numbers.
Let’s put it into perspective. Lottery players have a better chance of being struck by lightning (1 in 1,222,000), being killed in a plane crash (1 in 11 million), being born on leap day (1 in 1,416) and winning a gold medal (1 in 662,000) than they have of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot.
The next drawing for the Mega Millions will be this Tuesday, July 26, at 8 p.m. Arizona Time.
