How about a $685-million Mega Millions jackpot to ring in the New Year? - Los Angeles Times
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How about a $685-million Mega Millions jackpot to ring in the New Year?

A very close-up view of a hand holding a  Mega Millions lottery ticket against a black backdrop.
A person holds a Mega Millions lottery ticket in Tempe, Ariz., on Friday. The jackpot for the Friday drawing is estimated at $685 million.
(Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)
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A New Year’s Eve party is nice, but landing a $685-million Mega Millions jackpot would really make it a happy New Year.

Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot has surged to $685 million, making it the fourth-biggest jackpot in the lottery’s history.

The eye-popping jackpot is the biggest prize offered in the last week of the year since the Mega Millions was established in 1996, and just the fifth time that the top prize has soared past $600 million.

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This year has been a big year for huge prizes in the Mega Millions lottery. In July, the top prize jumped over $1.3 billion. The single winning ticket was sold in Illinois and claimed by two anonymous winners. Another $502-million prize was also claimed on Oct. 14, which was split between two winning tickets from California and Florida.

In January 2021, a $1.05-billion prize was also claimed with a ticket sold in Michigan.

But the biggest jackpot of all time was sold in 2018, when the prize ballooned to a whopping $1.5 billion. The prize was claimed with a single ticket that was sold in South Carolina.

Friday’s 8 p.m. drawing, which is livestreamed in the Mega Millions YouTube channel, will be the 22nd drawing since the jackpot was last won on Oct. 14.

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According to Mega Millions, the odds of picking all five numbers plus the Mega number on a ticket are about 1 in 303 million.

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