The combined jackpots for the Mega Millions and Powerball soared to more than $1 billion on Saturday after Friday night’s drawing for the Mega Millions produced no grand-prize winner.
The Powerball pot sits at $470 million, while the Mega Millions climbed to a whopping $600 million.
May Scheve Reardon, executive director of the Missouri Lottery, said in a statement Friday that it’s been a couple of years since both games have offered such large prizes.
“We want our players to have fun, especially when there are two big rolling jackpots to start off the new year,” Mega Millions lead director Gordon Medenica said in a press release, urging those who do buy a ticket to practice safety precautions.
“While we always encourage responsible play, it’s even more important during these trying times to wear a mask and maintain social distancing when purchasing your tickets,” he said.
It’s the fourth time in Mega Millions history that the pot has reached $600 million. It increased after no ticket matched all six numbers — 3, 6, 16, 18 and 58, plus the gold Mega Ball 11 — following Friday night’s drawing.
Five tickets matched the five white-ball numbers for the second prize. They were sold in New York, California, New Jersey, Georgia, and Massachusetts.
The next Mega Millions drawing is Tuesday. If there is a top prize winner, the cash option will be $442.4 million.
There hasn’t been a jackpot winner since September 2020 when a ticket in Wisconsin won the $120 million prize.
The next drawing for the Powerball is Saturday night. The $470 million pot is the 10th largest in history. A grand-prize winner could take home $362.7 million with the cash option.
The last winning jackpot ticket for the Powerball was also in September 2020 when a ticket worth more than $94 million was sold in New York.
Chances of winning are one in over 300 million, but that isn’t stopping many people from dreaming big.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
