July 19 (UPI) — The national lottery Mega Millions reached its fifth-highest jackpot total in history, about $720 million, after no one won Tuesday’s drawing.
Mega Millions joins its fellow national lottery Powerball with astronomical jackpots this summer. Powerball, which has a drawing on Wednesday, has a jackpot that stands at $1 billion. Mega Millions could reach the $1 billion mark, as well, with its next drawing not set until Friday.
“Just four previous times in Mega Millions history has the jackpot surpassed the $700 million mark,” the lottery said in a statement. “All four times, the rolls continued, taking those jackpots past $1 billion.”
No player matched the winning numbers 19, 22, 31, 37 and 54 with the Mega Ball 18. It marked the 26th consecutive time no one came up with the winning numbers since the jackpot was won in April. The jackpot has a cash payout of $369.6 million.
In Tuesday’s drawing, eight tickets came so close to claiming the jackpot by matching all five of the white balls but not the Mega ball. Each of those winners won prizes of at least $1 million. Those winners came from Maryland, Florida, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island and California.
If the Mega Millions jackpot reached $1 billion, it would be the second time this year it had done so, the first being $1.348 billion won on Jan. 13. It was also marked the third billion-dollar total within a year. One player won a $1.337 billion jackpot on July 29, 2022.
Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot total of $1 billion marked only the third time in three decades that its winnings sailed past that mark. The last time Powerball had a winner was April 19.
