The Mega Millions prize is approaching a staggering $1 billion (£800 million) following another draw with no winner, setting a new record for the longest streak without a top prize being claimed in the game’s history. Lottery officials announced that the jackpot for the upcoming draw on Friday has surged to $965 million (£770 million) after none of the tickets matched all six numbers in the recent draw on Tuesday night.
The winning numbers from the draw were 10, 13, 40, 42, 46, along with the Mega Ball 1, but no player managed to secure the jackpot this time. If a single player wins the upcoming jackpot on Friday, they stand to receive a cash lump sum of $445.3 million (£356 million) before taxes.
Although there have been four Mega Millions jackpot winners this year, the next draw will mark the 40th consecutive game without a top prize winner since the last significant win on June 27, setting a new record dry spell. Only seven times in the game’s history has the jackpot exceeded the billion-dollar mark, making this potential payout one of the largest ever recorded.
However, with odds of 1 in 290 million to claim the jackpot and 1 in 23 to win any prize at all, most participants are more likely to dream of winning than actually celebrating a victory.
In a separate event, a German father discovered a life-changing prize of €15.3 million (£13.4 million) after finding a lottery ticket in his jacket pocket that had been forgotten for six months. The lottery company had been searching for the winner who had not come forward to claim the prize for half a year, resorting to posting notices in retail stores before the winning combination, including the bonus number, was found on a receipt in the coat pocket.
The father, residing in western Germany, had purchased the ticket anonymously on March 29 and stored it away without using a customer card.