RELEASE DATE: 3/2/2024
Spring is just around the corner, and Mega Millions® rolls into March with one of the largest jackpots in the game’s history! After no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Friday night – the white balls 15, 33, 37, 55 and 61, plus the gold Mega Ball 24 – the estimated jackpot for Tuesday, March 5, jumps to $650 million ($308.6 million cash). If won at that level, it would be the seventh largest Mega Millions prize ever awarded. The jackpot has been growing since it was last won with two tickets in California on December 8.
Historically, March has been a very good month for Mega Millions jackpot winners. Since the game began in May 2002, 21 jackpots have been won during March, including two exceeding $500 million. A $656 million prize on March 30, 2012, was shared by winning tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland; that was a world record for a jackpot game at the time. More recently, a New Jersey player celebrated a $533 million win on March 30, 2018. The current Mega Millions record is a $1.602 billion prize won in Florida last August 8.
While the jackpot remains elusive, the March 1 drawing still produced plenty of winners, with a total of 1,099,472 winning tickets at all prize levels. Across the country, 28 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Three of those are worth $40,000 each because they included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 4X Friday night. The other 25 third-tier winning tickets take home the standard $10,000 each.
Through 24 drawings in this jackpot run, there have been almost 16.2 million winning tickets at all non-jackpot prize levels, ranging from $2 up to $4 million. These include 26 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, won in 17 different jurisdictions from coast to coast: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.
Mega Millions is the only lottery game that has awarded five jackpots exceeding $1 billion – all in different states (Florida, South Carolina, Maine, Illinois and Michigan). Tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $2 each; in most jurisdictions, players can add the Megaplier for an additional $1 to multiply their non-jackpot prizes. Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia.
The top Mega Millions jackpots:
| Amount |
Date |
Winning Tickets |
| $1.602 billion |
8/8/2023 |
1-FL |
| $1.537 billion |
10/23/2018 |
1-SC |
| $1.348 billion |
1/13/2023 |
1-ME |
| $1.337 billion |
7/29/2022 |
1-IL |
| $1.050 billion |
1/22/2021 |
1-MI |
| $656 million |
3/30/2012 |
3-IL, KS, MD |
| $650 million (est) |
3/5/2024 |
? |
| $648 million |
12/17/2013 |
2-CA, GA |
| $543 million |
7/24/2018 |
1-CA |
| $536 million |
7/8/2016 |
1-IN |
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