The Mega Millions jackpot continues its impressive climb, reaching an estimated $825 million for the Friday, December 20, 2024 drawing.
Mega Millions posted on its website in a December 18 press release that this would mark the seventh-largest prize in the game’s history and set a new record for December jackpots.
The excitement surrounding this record-breaking prize is palpable as the jackpot rolls again after no one matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday night, December 17.
Since its inception in 2002, Mega Millions has seen 13 jackpot wins in December.
Three of these have come in the days following Christmas, while the remaining ten were won before the holiday. Interestingly, there has never been a win on Christmas Day, although the game has held drawings on Christmas six times in the past, spanning from 2007 to 2020.
Since the jackpot was last won at $810 million in Texas on September 10, 2024, nearly 19.4 million tickets have been sold across 28 drawings. This includes 51 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, with winners in 21 states. Some of the largest winners included California, Florida, and New York. These second-tier prizes show the widespread interest in Mega Millions and the potential for big wins even without hitting the jackpot.
The December 17 drawing alone produced 1,602,721 winning tickets at various prize levels. Five of those matched all five white balls for the second-tier prize, with one ticket in North Carolina netting a $4 million payout due to the inclusion of the Megaplier, which was 4X for that night. Other second-tier winners were in California, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
Among the third-tier winners, 55 tickets matched four white balls and the Mega Ball. Thanks to the Megaplier, seventeen of these tickets won $40,000, while the remaining 38 took home $10,000 each. California players, however, should note that prize amounts are calculated on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning they may vary depending on the number of winners in the state.
So far this year, Mega Millions has had three jackpot winners, the fewest since the game began. The last jackpot win occurred in Texas on September 10, with the biggest prize in 2024 being the $552 million win in Illinois on June 4. Earlier this year, a massive $1.128 billion prize was won in New Jersey, though the ticket remains unclaimed, and it will expire if not claimed by March 26, 2025.