The Mega Millions jackpot soared to a whopping $785 million after it was announced that nobody matched all six numbers in Friday’s lottery drawing.
The winning numbers for Friday’s $685 million jackpot were 1, 3, 6, 44, 51 and the Gold Mega Ball number was 7. The next drawing will take place on Tuesday and the new estimated jackpot is $785 million with the cash prize option estimated to be $395 million.
Friday’s prize was the largest Mega Millions prize ever offered in the final week of any year, according to the lottery.
Mega Millions lottery entry tickets are seen in New York, Oct. 23, 2018.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
The jackpot has grown over the 22 drawings since the lottery’s jackpot was last won on Oct. 14, when two ticket winners split a $502 million prize.
It’s continued to climb since the most recent drawing; after no tickets matched all six winning numbers in Tuesday’s drawing, the jackpot was estimated to reach $640 million.
Only six Mega Millions jackpots have been won this year. Winning tickets were in California, Florida, New York, Minnesota, Illinois and Tennessee.
“On only three previous occasions has the Mega Millions jackpot gone beyond $700 million, and all three times those rolls continued on past $1 billion,” Mega Millions said.
In July, the jackpot surpassed the $1 billion mark for only the third time in its history.
The historic $1.34 billion prize was won by an anonymous ticket owner in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.