Mega Millions Jackpot Now $1.6B

It will be the largest US lottery payout in history
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 20, 2018 6:00 AM CDT
Mega Millions Jackpot Now $1.6B
Mega Million lottery tickets are printed out of a lottery machine at a convenience store Wednesday in Chicago.   (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

There will be lots of disappointed people Saturday morning when they discover they can't quit their jobs just yet—but Mega Millions is going to offer them another sliver of hope Tuesday night, with an even bigger jackpot. CNN reports there was no winner in Friday night's drawing for the jaw-dropping $1 billion prize, upping the kitty for Tuesday's drawing to at least $1.6 billion, which would apparently make it the biggest lottery payout in US history: CNBC notes the largest prize ever was drawn in January 2016, when three tickets had the winning Powerball numbers for a $1.586 billion prize.

The winning numbers in Friday night's drawing were 15-23-53-65-70, with a Mega Ball number of 7. Even though no one won the main prize, make sure to check your tickets for any matching numbers in case you're eligible for a secondary prize, which could still net you a good amount of cash. If someone wins on Tuesday, the one-time cash payout would be $904 million. Meanwhile, Saturday night's Powerball jackpot is now up to a relatively paltry $470 million. (Why lottery jackpots seem to be getting bigger.)

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