Mega Millions jackpot rises to $1.02 billion

The Mega Millions jackpot has grown to an estimated $1.02 billion after no one won the jackpot with Tuesday night's drawing. 

The cash option for the grand prize is $602.5 million before taxes. The drawing will be held on Friday, July 29, 2022, at 11 p.m. EDT.

There have only been two other jackpots higher than the current one.  Both of them were also worth more than $1 billion.

The winning numbers from the July 26, 2022, Mega Million drawing were 7, 29, 60, 63, 66 and 15 for the gold ball.

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There were several 2nd prize winners.  Those winners in California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey (2), New York (2), and Ohio.  One of those tickets had a Megaplier and is worth $3 million

Mega Millions progressive jackpot

Four Mega Millions jackpots have been won to date in 2022, lottery officials said. 

Most recently, $20 million was won in Tennessee on April 15. A $426 million prize was won in California on Jan. 28, followed by $128 million in New York on March 8 and $110 million in Minnesota on April 12. 

When is the Mega Millions drawing?

Mega Millions drawings are held Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. ET. Five white balls are drawn from a set of balls numbered 1 through 70, and one gold Mega Ball is drawn from a set of balls numbered 1 through 25. Players win if the numbers on one row of a ticket match the numbers of the balls drawn on that date.

How to play Mega Millions

Mega Millions tickets cost $2 per play. Players win the jackpot by matching all six numbers in a drawing. If no one wins the jackpot, the money is added to the jackpot for the next drawing. 

For those lucky enough to become a Mega Millions jackpot winner, they get the choice of a cash option or an annual payout. The annuity option means getting an initial payment followed by 29 annual payments, and each payment is 5% larger than the previous one. For those that select the cash option, they receive a one-time, lump-sum payment that is equal to all the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool after taxes. 

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot prize is roughly 1 in 302,575,350, lottery officials said. But a player’s overall chance of winning any prize is 1 in 24.

mega millions tickets

A customer purchases a Mega Millions lottery ticket. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)