While many consider Friday the 13th an unlucky day, it has been rewarding for Mega Millions® players over the years, with six previous jackpots won on such a day.
There’s a chance for another this Friday, and it’s a big one! After no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night – the white balls 7, 13, 14, 15, and 18, plus the gold Mega Ball 9 – a gigantic prize of $1.35 billion ($707.9 million cash) is estimated for Friday, January 13.
If won at that amount, it would be the second-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history!
“The jackpot has rolled again, keeping everyone who follows Mega Millions in suspense for yet another drawing,” says Ohio Lottery Director Pat McDonald, Lead Director of the Mega Millions Consortium. “Now at $1.35 billion, the Mega Millions jackpot is moving up and making history as the second highest Mega Millions jackpot ever. Our member lotteries raise funds for many good causes, ranging from education to conservation programs. We’re proud to support these efforts.”
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Michigan has been particularly lucky with Mega Millions jackpots on Friday the 13th, winning four of them (June 2008, May 2011, June 2014 and October 2017). That 2017 jackpot was shared with a winner in Rhode Island. Other jackpots on Friday the 13th have been won in New York (March 2009) and Ohio (November 2015). None of them, however, came close in size to the estimated $1.35 billion up for grabs later this week.
The only Mega Millions jackpot larger than Friday’s estimated prize is the game record of $1.537 billion, won in South Carolina on October 23, 2018.
The January 10 drawing produced riches throughout the non-jackpot prize tiers; there were a total of 6,154,167 winning tickets at all prize levels ranging from $2 to $3 million.
Sixteen tickets from coast to coast matched the five white balls to win the game’s second-tier prize. Three of them, one each in Connecticut, Florida and New York, included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 3X on Tuesday night; those tickets are worth $3 million each.
The other 13 second-tier winning tickets are worth the standard $1 million each; they were sold in California, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts (two), Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio (two), Oregon, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
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Across the country, 215 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the game’s third-tier prize. Forty-one of those tickets are worth $30,000 each, because they also included the optional Megaplier. The other 174 third-tier winning tickets are worth $10,000 each.
There have been a total of almost 33.3 million winning tickets sold in the 25 drawings since the jackpot was last won on October 14. These include 68 worth $1 million or more, won in 24 different states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
The most recent Mega Millions jackpot win was at $502 million, shared by winning tickets in California and Florida last October 14.
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