Mega Millions Jackpot Grows to Estimated $530M, Eighth-Largest in Game History

Posted on: July 18, 2022, 10:06h. 

Last updated on: July 19, 2022, 11:58h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

The Mega Millions jackpot for tomorrow night’s draw is an estimated $530 million, the lottery game’s eighth-largest prize in its more than quarter-century history.

Mega Millions jackpot lottery numbers Powerball
A gas station Mega Millions advertisement shows this week’s estimated $530 million jackpot up for grabs during the July 19, 2022, draw. The lottery jackpot hasn’t been won since April 15. (Image: NBC4)

No ticket has matched all five white balls and the gold Mega Ball since April 15, when a player in Tennessee won a $20 million prize. Last Friday’s winning numbers were 8-20-26-53-64 and the Mega Ball 15.

During Friday’s draw, mega Millions told Casino.org that 1,423,423 tickets won some sort of prize, from $2 to $1 million.

The top prize came by way of California, where a single ticket matched all five white balls to win the game’s top non-jackpot prize of $1 million. But unfortunately for that player, the California Lottery does not participate in the Mega Millions $1 add-on Megaplier option. The Megaplier is randomly drawn during the game’s Tuesday and Friday draws.

The Megaplier can double, triple, quadruple, or even quintuple a prize. Last Friday’s Megaplier draw hit the 5x multiplier, which would have ballooned the California individual’s prize to $5 million.

Megaplier Odds

2x: 1 in 3

3x: 1 in 2.5

4x: 1 in 5

5x: 1 in 15

With no ticket matching all six numbers, the Mega Millions jackpot rolls over for the Tuesday, July 19, draw.

History Coming

Mega Millions tomorrow night could forever change someone’s life. The estimated $530 million jackpot is the game’s biggest prize since January 2021, when a winning ticket worth more than $1 billion was sold in Michigan.

  1. $1.537B 10/23/2018 — 1-SC
  2. $1.05B 1/22/2021 — 1-MI
  3. $656M 3/30/2012 — 3-IL, KS, MD
  4. $648M 12/17/2013 — 2-CA, GA
  5. $543M 7/24/2018 — 1-CA
  6. $536M 7/8/2016 — 1-IN
  7. $533M 3/30/2018 — 1-NJ
  8. $530M (est.) 7/19/2022 — ?
  9. $522M 6/7/2019 — 1-CA
  10. $516M 5/21/2021 — 1-PA

The January 2021 10-figure win was claimed by a “lottery club” in Oakland County, Mi. Calling themselves the Wolverine FLL Club, the four-person group purchased the winning $1.05 billion ticket at a Kroger grocery store in Novi.

The group said they “plan to stay humble” and “pay it forward through charitable giving in southeast Michigan.” It was a generous jackpot, as the Kroger that sold the ticket donated its $50,000 bonus commission for selling the ticket to the Food Bank Council of Michigan.

Lucky July

Though the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are a measly one in 302.6 million — even worse than Powerball’s jackpot odds of one in 292.2 million –, July has historically been a good month for historic Mega Millions jackpot wins.

Two of the largest Mega Millions jackpots in the game’s history were won in July. A $536 million Mega Millions win was hit on July 8, 2016, and a $543 million prize was won on July 24, 2018.

Since the April 15 jackpot, Mega Millions says more than 15.5 million prize-winning tickets have been sold, including 25 worth $1 million or more.

The Mega Millions jackpot has been hit only four times in 2022. The others came on January 28 with a $426 million prize, March 8 with a $128 million win, and April 12 with a $110 million reward.