Mega Millions Jackpot Nears $1 Billion as Players Chase Massive Win
Oct 01, 2026
Mega Millions Jackpot Nears $1 Billion as Players Chase Massive Win
The Mega Millions grand prize blows people’s minds with a close to $1 billion figure. The total jackpot is estimated to be around $900 million. This is the eighth time the biggest prize will be among the top ten in the history of the game since the first draw in 2002.
The jackpot has been increased with each draw since June 27, when a single hand in Virginia won $348 million. This milestone of raising the mega jackpot to such a level for the third time only after the record-breaking $1.6 billion jackpot won by a Florida player on August 8.
Two more super-sized jackpots were taken home: On March 26, 2024 an individual in New Jersey claimed $1.1 billion and then on December 27, not far from the first, an almost $1.3 billion prize was won.
At the last lottery draw held on November 7, the jackpot was around $843 million but no ticket had all the winning numbers. There was no player who picked the five white numbers for a million-dollar prize. 16 players took home between $20,000 and $100,000 and more than 688,000 tickets were holders of small prizes.
A Pennsylvania Cash 5 player got the numbers 1, 20, 25, 38 and 40 right and won $870,000.
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