(RNN) – The $548 million Mega Millions jackpot numbers were drawn on Friday night as 70, 24, 46, 4 and 61, with a Mega Ball of 7.
Lottery officials announced early Saturday morning that no winning ticket had been sold.
That means the jackpot for the next drawing has grown to an estimated $654 million – with a cash option of $372.6 million, according to the lottery website.
The prize is $2 million shy of the all-time highest Mega Millions jackpot of $656 million.
The grand prize had increased to the third-largest jackpot in the lottery’s history for Friday’s drawing, after no tickets matched all the numbers in the Tuesday drawing.
If someone buys a winning ticket for the next drawing, they could take home the second-highest jackpot in Mega Millions history, and the fourth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.
That jackpot has been growing since the Mega Millions was last won on July 24.
The Friday drawing marked the 23rd consecutive one where nobody matched all six numbers drawn.
The next jackpot winner will need to match numbers on all five white balls and the Mega Ball.
But even if you don’t hit the jackpot, smaller prizes can be won by matching fewer numbers.
For example, matching five white balls without the Mega Ball pays $1 million.
One ticket matched five white balls in Friday’s drawing. That winning ticket was sold in Arkansas.
Matching four white balls and the Mega Ball will get you $10,000. There were 55 tickets that matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball on Friday.
Jackpot winners have a choice to make: cash or annuity. Those who take the cash will receive a one-time lump-sum equal to all the cash in the prize pool.
Those who opt for the annuity will get an immediate payment and then 29 annual payments, each five-percent larger than the last.
The largest jackpot in Mega Millions history was won in March 2012. Three winners across three states split the record $656 million prize.
The second-largest jackpot ever won was $648 million. Two winners, one in California and the other in Georgia, split the prize in December 2013.
A group of 11 office workers in San Jose, CA, who made a “spur of the moment” decision to pool together, beat the odds and won July’s jackpot of $543 million. They agreed to split the winnings and continue working.
Mega Millions is available in 44 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, Alabama and Mississippi do not participate.
So, even though nobody got lucky Friday, there’s still Tuesday. There’s also still the Powerball drawing on Saturday. That jackpot has reached an estimated $314 million.
Copyright 2018 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.
