ATLANTA — More than a billion dollars is on the line in jackpot prize money for lottery players in many states across the nation, and that number is still growing.
The jackpot in the multi-state Mega Millions lottery game has been continually growing since it last produced a winner in September, and now, due to strong sales, the jackpot for Tuesday night has grown to an estimated $625 million for a single annuity winner.
A cash winner would take home about $428.8 million.
According to officials with the consortium that runs the game, that would make Tuesday night's jackpot the fourth-largest in the history of the game.
Mega Millions first passed the $600 million point in 2012, when winners in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland split a $656 million prize. The following year, winners in Georgia and California split a $648 million jackpot.
Finally, on October 23, 2018, a single ticket drawn in South Carolina won an incredible $1.537 billion prize, marking the world's largest lotto jackpot awarded on a single ticket.
The top Mega Millions jackpots won to date:
AMOUNT - DATE - WINNING TICKETS
- $1.537 billion -- 10/23/2018 -- 1-SC
- $656 million -- 3/30/2012 -- 3-IL, KS, MD
- $648 million -- 12/17/2013 -- 2-CA, GA
- $625 million (est) -- 1/12/2021 -- ?
- $543 million -- 7/24/2018 -- 1-CA
- $536 million -- 7/8/2016 -- 1-IN
- $533 million -- 3/30/2018 -- 1-NJ
- $522 million -- 6/7/2019 -- 1-CA
- $451 million -- 1/5/2018 -- 1-FL
- $437 million -- 1/1/2019 -- 1-NY
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
And if that wasn't enough, Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot is a whopping $550 million for a single annuity winner, which carries a $411.4 million cash-value prize.