Mega Millions jackpot grows to second highest with no winner

You still have a shot at becoming a Mega Million billionaire.

Nobody matched the six numbers — 7, 13, 14, 15, 18 and Mega Ball 9 — Tuesday night to win the $1.1 billion jackpot, which means the prize will keep growing.

When the numbers are drawn again Friday night, the jackpot will be worth about $1.35 billion, the second-highest top prize in the game’s history, according to the Mega Millions website. The jackpot has been increasing since Oct. 14.

Tuesday’s $1.1 billion was the third-highest amount for a Mega Millions jackpot, bested only by the $1.5 billion won in October 2018 and the $1.3 billion in July 2022.

The largest lottery jackpot paid in the U.S. was the result of a Powerball draw in November worth a cash value of $2.04 billion.

A winner would have been told to choose between accepting 30 annuity payments worth the $1.1 billion cash value of the jackpot, or taking an immediate payment of $576.8 million. Those numbers will grow ahead of Friday’s draw.

According to personal finance and tax advice platform Kiplinger, the latter, “lump sum,” option comes with 24% automatically withheld by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, with more of it possibly owed in taxes at year’s end depending on a winner’s filing status and claims.

Under that “lump sum” choice, the most money a winner was likely to see from the jackpot was very close to one-third of the $1.1 billion, $363.4 million, the publication said. That number will likely grow slightly Friday.