Mega Millions Jackpot Leaps to $735 Million

With no winner drawn on Friday, March 8, lottery players get another shot at a growing Mega Millions jackpot. With no winners since Dec. 8, 2023, the national game’s grand prize has swelled to an estimated $735 million. That’s the sixth largest Mega Millions jackpot in the game’s history.

You can buy Mega Millions tickets for $2 apiece in 45 U.S. states, as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. To play, pick five numbers between 1 and 70, and a sixth number between 1 and 25. If you don’t want to pick the numbers yourself, you can get a set of numbers generated for you.

The current jackpot is estimated at $735 million.

Winners can opt to take their winnings in the form of an annuity or as a single lump sum, known as the cash option. The cash option for the current jackpot is estimated at $356.7 million.

By taking the annuity option, the winner would get the full jackpot advertised by Mega Millions, but it would be spread out in payments over 30 years.

No matter how lucky you are, you won’t get around paying taxes on a lottery jackpot. After mandatory federal income tax withholding, you’d get roughly $271.1 million, if you took the cash option. How much more you’d pay come tax time depends on whether you take where you bought the ticket — and where you live. To prepare, make sure you know the ins and outs of how the lottery works..

• The winning numbers will be drawn Tuesday, March 12 , at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.

• If there’s still no jackpot winner, the grand prize will continue to grow.

• The odds of winning the jackpot are roughly 1 in 303 million.

The jackpot isn’t the only way to win. Mega Millions has prizes for ticket holders whose chosen numbers match the drawing in a variety of combinations.

The current Mega Millions jackpot would be the sixth-largest in the game’s history. Here are the 10 largest Mega Millions jackpots:

• $1.58 billion (Aug. 8, 2023 — one winning ticket).

• $1.537 billion (Oct. 23, 2018 — one winning ticket).

• $1.348 billion (Jan. 13, 2023 — one winning ticket).

• $1.337 billion (July 29, 2022 — one winning ticket).

• $1.05 billion (Jan. 22, 2021 — one winning ticket).

• $656 million (March 30, 2012 — three winning tickets).

• $648 million (Dec. 17, 2013 — two winning tickets).

• $543 million (July 4, 2018 — one winning ticket).

• $536 million (July 8, 2016 — one winning ticket).