Did you know?
There was a jackpot winner in the very first Mega Millions® drawing. The drawing on May 17, 2002 resulted in a $28 million winning ticket in Illinois. There was a second jackpot winner just one week later - which means there were two jackpot winners within the first three Mega Millions drawings.
Since the game began in 2002, there have been 217 jackpots won by 244 individual tickets (22 jackpots have been shared by two or more winning tickets).
Mega Millions has awarded 34 jackpots of more than $300 million, and is the only lottery game that has awarded six prizes of $1 billion or more, two in 2023 and one each in 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2024. A new Mega Millions record jackpot was set on August 8, 2023, with a $1.602 billion prize won in Florida.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot won on a single ticket is that $1.602 billion prize. Other large single-ticket Mega Millions prizes have been $1.537 billion won in South Carolina on October 23, 2018; $1.348 billion won in Maine on January 13, 2023; $1.337 billion won in Illinois on July 29, 2022; $1.128 billion won in New Jersey on March 26, 2024; $1.050 billion won in Michigan on January 22, 2021; and $810 million won in Texas on September 10, 2024.
Seven Mega Millions jackpots have been won on a Friday the 13th. Michigan has been especially lucky on that special day, with four winning jackpots (June 2008, May 2011, June 2014, and one shared with Rhode Island in October 2017). The game's third-largest prize to date ($1.348 billion) was won in Maine on Friday, January 13, 2023. Friday the 13th jackpots were also won in New York in March 2009 and in Ohio in November 2015.
Jackpots have been won in...
All of the original participating states have had Mega Millions® jackpot winners. Beginning in January 2010, the game was expanded to all American lotteries including the Virgin Islands. Since that time, jackpots have been won in 28 different jurisdictions: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
The first jackpot won in 2024 was the game's sixth jackpot exceeding $1 billion, as a prize of $1.128 billion was taken with a single ticket in New Jersey on March 26. On June 4, a ticket sold online in Illinois won a $552 million prize. On September 10, a Texas ticket won a jackpot valued at $810 million.
Ten jackpots were won in 2023, the first time since 2013 that as many as 10 were won in a single year. The first was a big one, as a $1.348 billion prize was won in Maine on January 13; it was that state's very first Mega Millions jackpot win! It was quickly followed by a $20 million win in the very next drawing on January 17; that ticket was sold in New York. Just two drawings later, it was hit again, this time in Massachusetts on January 24, with a jackpot of $33 million. The historic month of January concluded with yet another jackpot win on January 31, again in Massachusetts; that prize was $31 million. It's the first time in the game's history that four jackpots have been won in a single month. New York picked up its second Mega Millions jackpot of the year with a $483 million win on April 14. And when a New York ticket also won a $20 million prize in the very next drawing on April 18, it marked the first time there have ever been jackpot winners in the same state in two consecutive drawings. A seventh 2023 jackpot was won in Florida on August 8, a prize of $1.602 billion that set a new record for the game. Just two drawings later, a Florida ticket won again on August 15, taking a jackpot of $39 million (that prize was unclaimed and funds were returned to all participating states). After $361 million was won in Texas on October 6, the year's jackpot glut ended with a $394 million prize on December 8, shared by two tickets sold in California.
Six jackpots were won in 2022. The first was a $426 million prize won in California on January 28. Just 11 drawings later, the jackpot was won again, in New York on March 8 at $128 million. The third jackpot of the year, at $110 million, was won in Minnesota on April 12 -- that state's first jackpot winner! In the very next drawing, a Tennessee ticket won the $20 million jackpot on April 15. On July 29, a single Illinois ticket won a $1.337 billion prize, the second-largest in the game's history. Finally, a $502 million jackpot was shared by winners in California and Florida on October 14.
Six jackpots were won in 2021, including a $1.05 billion prize awarded in Michigan on January 22, the second time the game passed the $1 billion mark. Two jackpots were won in New York: $96 million on February 16 and $431 million on September 21. The other jackpots won during the year were $516 million in Pennsylvania on May 21, $55 million in Illinois on June 8, and $108 million in Arizona on October 22.
In 2020, two states had their very first Mega Millions jackpot winners: A $414 million prize was won in Arizona on June 9, and $120 million was won in Wisconsin on September 15. There were three other jackpots awarded in 2020, for a total of five during the year. Two were won in New Jersey – $202 million on February 11 and $123 million on July 24. And a California winner took home a $22 million prize on July 31.
See a complete list of jackpot winners since the game began in 2002.
Second prizes up to $5 million!
Mega Millions® is the only big jackpot game where second prizes can be as high as $5 million if the player has purchased the optional Megaplier® (a $1 additional purchase available in most states). That prize level was established when the game’s matrix changed on October 19, 2013. Since that date, there have been 1,719 Match 5 winning tickets worth $1 million or more, and they have been won in almost every jurisdiction in which the game is sold.
Not surprisingly, larger states such as California and New York have had the most Match 5 winners simply because they sell the most Mega Millions tickets, but million-dollar prizes have also been won in many jurisdictions with the smallest American lotteries, such as Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, and Virgin Islands.
Of those 1,719 winning Match 5 tickets, 282 have been worth more than $1 million because they included the optional Megaplier. Thirty-six were worth $5 million, 65 were worth $4 million, 83 were worth $3 million and 98 were worth $2 million.
Texas has been the luckiest big-money Megaplier state, with 44 winning tickets sold valued at $2 million to $5 million. Florida is next with 36 Megaplied Match 5 winning tickets sold. Texas was the first to introduce the Megaplier option when it joined the game in December 2003.
Mega Millions has provided the two smallest American lotteries with the biggest prizes in their history thanks to Match 5 with Megaplier prizes – North Dakota had a $3 million winner in May 2016 and again in March 2021, while Wyoming had a $5 million winner in March 2016. And in August 2020, there was a $3 million winning ticket sold in the Virgin Islands.