The Mega Millions lottery game has reached a staggering $1.35 billion jackpot for the Friday, August 4, 2023 drawing, after no one matched all six numbers in the previous drawing on Tuesday. This is the second-largest Mega Millions jackpot ever and the fourth-largest jackpot in U.S. history, with a $659.5 million cash option.
How to play Mega Millions?
To play Mega Millions, you need to buy a ticket for $2 per play from a licensed retailer in one of the 45 states that participate in the game, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. You can also play online in some states.
You have to pick five numbers from 1 to 70 and one Mega Ball number from 1 to 25. You can choose your own numbers or let the terminal randomly pick them for you with the Easy Pick or Quick Pick option.
You win the jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in the drawing. There are also nine other ways to win a prize, ranging from $2 to $1 million, depending on how many numbers you match. If you add the Megaplier feature for an extra $1 per play, you can multiply your non-jackpot prizes by two, three, four or five times.
The Megaplier is drawn before each regular Mega Millions drawing from a pool of 15 balls. Five of them are marked with 2X, three with 3X, four with 4X and one with 5X.
What are the odds of winning Mega Millions
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302.6 million, while the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 24. The odds of winning the second prize of $1 million (or up to $5 million with the Megaplier) are 1 in 12.6 million.
The odds of winning any of the Megaplier prizes are dependent on the number of Megaplier balls in play and whether a Megaplier ball is selected. For example, the odds of winning a 5X Megaplier prize are 1 in 15 when a 5X ball is drawn, but 1 in 60 when any other Megaplier ball is drawn.
What were the winning numbers for Friday, August 4
The winning numbers for Friday night’s drawing were 11, 30, 45, 52 and 56. The Mega Ball was 20 and the Megaplier was 2X.
According to the official Mega Millions website, there was no jackpot winner for this drawing, which means the jackpot will roll over to the next drawing on Tuesday, August 8. The estimated jackpot for that drawing is $1.45 billion with a cash option of $696.7 million.
There were also no Match 5 plus Megaplier winners for this drawing, which would have won $4 million each. However, there were six Match 5 winners who won $1 million each. They were from California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York and Texas.
In total, there were over 9.8 million winning tickets sold for this drawing, with prizes ranging from $2 to $1 million.
What is the largest Mega Millions jackpot ever?
The largest Mega Millions jackpot ever won was $1.537 billion on October 23, 2018. The ticket was sold in South Carolina and claimed anonymously by a single winner who chose the cash option of $877.8 million.
The second-largest Mega Millions jackpot ever won was also the most recent one before Friday’s drawing. It was $1.348 billion on January 22, 2023. The ticket was sold in Maine and claimed by a group of friends who called themselves “The Lucky Ones”. They opted for the lump sum payment of $716 million.
The third-largest Mega Millions jackpot ever won was $1.337 billion on July 8, 2022. The ticket was sold in Illinois and claimed by a retired couple who chose the annuity option of $53 million per year for 30 years.
The fourth-largest Mega Millions jackpot ever won is the current one at $1.35 billion (estimated) for Friday’s drawing.
