Mega Millions climbs to $820 million for Tuesday drawing

With no jackpot winner in its drawing on Friday, the Mega Millions® jackpot has grown even further and is now the fifth largest in the game’s history. It stands at an estimated $820 million annuity, $422 million cash option for the game’s next drawing on Tuesday, according to a news release.

In addition to being one of the biggest jackpots in Mega Millions, the giant prize is now the eighth-largest U.S. lottery jackpot. And it follows the $1.08 billion Powerball® jackpot won in that game’s drawing on Wednesday.

The Mega Millions jackpot has reached this level because it has been growing for more than three months. It was last won on April 18.

Demonstrating the random nature of lottery games, the Mega Millions jackpot was won six times in all of 2022 but has already been won six times this year. The game’s drawings occur at 10 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Latest winning numbers and Iowa sales and prizes  

Iowa Lottery players won a total of 19,759 prizes in Friday’s Mega Millions drawing. The winning numbers that night were: 29-40-47-50-57 and Mega Ball 25. The Megaplier® number was 2.

A player wins the Mega Millions jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in a drawing. However, there are a total of nine prize levels in the game ranging from $2 up to the jackpot, so the Iowa Lottery reminds its players to check their tickets for all the prizes they may have won.

Iowa Lottery players bought more than $1.1 million in Mega Millions tickets for Friday’s drawing. But the average Mega Millions purchase in Iowa for the drawing remained about three plays per ticket. Lottery officials were pleased that a lot of people had fun playing and didn’t go overboard.

Easy picks vs. your own numbers

The vast majority of tickets purchased in games like Mega Millions and Powerball are easy-pick plays, meaning that the lottery terminal assigns the numbers printed on the ticket. About 93 percent of the Iowa plays for Friday’s Mega Millions drawing were easy picks.

But players also can choose their own numbers. They choose five numbers from a pool of 1 to 70 for the white balls and one number from a separate pool of 25 for the yellow Mega Ball.

Neither option is luckier. The odds of winning are the same for every ticket purchased in the game. There are more winners from easy-pick tickets simply because the vast majority of tickets purchased are easy picks.

I’ve heard that the odds change …

There are a lot of beliefs about playing the lottery, and some of them aren’t accurate, the release says. For example, when it comes to the Mega Millions jackpot, some say that players have a harder time winning when the jackpot climbs because more people are buying tickets.

But if that were the case, how would the lottery ever identify the odds of winning – would they change with each ticket sold?

The odds of winning in Mega Millions do not change. They’re the same for every play purchased in the game.

The odds of winning the game’s jackpot are about 1 in 302.6 million because that is how many ways the numbers available in the game can be combined to make a play.

When the winning numbers are selected, they’re one of about 302.6 million possibilities. Will the numbers on your ticket match?

Don’t know how to buy a ticket?

When the Mega Millions jackpot really gets up there, a lot of first-time players decide to buy tickets. Some of them have reached out to the Iowa Lottery, saying they aren’t sure how to play and don’t want to appear silly when trying to buy a ticket.

The Iowa Lottery has shared with them that the simplest way to buy a ticket is to ask a clerk at a store for an easy-pick Mega Millions play. The lottery terminal will select the numbers for that play and print out the ticket.

To give everyone a quick brush-up on playing Mega Millions, the Iowa Lottery has how-to-play videos available here.

Play responsibly

And as always, the Iowa Lottery reminds everyone that it only takes one ticket to win. Please have fun in this big-jackpot moment, and stay within your means as you play, the release says.

About the Iowa Lottery

Since the lottery’s start in 1985, its players have won more than $5.4 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $2.3 billion for state programs. Today, lottery proceeds help the state in multiple ways. They support Iowa veterans and their families through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. They help the families of Iowa peace officers, firefighters and corrections employees who die in the line of duty. And they provide help for a variety of significant projects through the state General Fund.