1 Mega Millions player hits $1 billion on Friday, 10 others narrowly miss

A single ticket sold in Michigan hit the $1 billion Mega Millions jackpot Friday night. It’s the second-largest prize in lotto history from one ticket. The other was also from a Mega Millions prize. Friday night’s jackpot wasn’t just the second-largest in Mega Millions history, but the third-largest jackpot in American lottery history.

Friday night’s win also ended a 37-game rolling streak, the longest in Mega Millions history without a winner.

Now, the national jackpot drops to the $20 million minimum. Two of the larger jackets in American lottery history have been won in just three days. Powerball’s $730 million prize was won Wednesday from a ticket purchased in Maryland.

Here are the numbers from Friday night’s 01/22/21 Mega Millions drawing:

• First Five: 04-26-42-50-60
• Mega Ball: 24
• Megaplier: 2x

There were 10 people who hit the first five numbers. Eight of those players didn’t purchase the Megaplier for an extra $1, which make their second-prize worth $1 million. Those tickets were sold in Florida (2), Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York (2) and Pennsylvania. There were two tickets sold—one each in North Carolina and Virginia—that bought the Megaplier, making their tickets worth $2 million apiece.

The Mega Millions jackpot for 01/22/21 was the second-highest jackpot in the game’s history. Here are the top 10 Mega Millions Jackpots to date:

Amount/Date/Winning Tickets

1. $1.537 billion 10/23/2018 1-SC
2. $1.0 billion 01/22/21 1-MI
3. $656 million 3/30/2012 3-IL, 1-KS, 1-MD
4. $648 million 12/17/2013 2-CA, 1-GA
5. $543 million 7/24/2018 1-CA
6. $536 million 7/8/2016 1-IN
7. $533 million 3/30/2018 1-NJ
8. $522 million 6/07/2019 1-CA
9. $451 million 1/5/2018 1-FL
10. $414 million 3/18/2014 2-FL, 1-MD

There was a grand prize winner for $410 million on April 9, 2020, for a ticket that was sold in Arizona. That was the top prize in the 2020 calendar year.

This Friday’s jackpot was the highest grand prize since the game hit $1.5 billion during October of 2018.

The last grand prize jackpot winner was from a ticket sold in Wisconsin on 09/15/20 for a jackpot worth $119 million. It was only the fifth, and final, Mega Millions jackpot won in the 2020 calendar year.

Here are the five Mega Millions jackpots won in 2020:

$119 million — September 15 in Wisconsin
$22 million — July 31 in California
$124 million — July 24 in New Jersey
$410 million — June 9 in Arizona
$202 million — February 11 in New Jersey

Other winners—dating back to 2019—were a $372 million ticket sold in Ohio and a $227 million ticket that was sold on 09/24/19 in the city of Cedar Park, Texas—a suburb north of Austin.

Mega Millions is a multi-state lottery every Tuesday and Friday night, and it is one of America’s two biggest lottery jackpot games. Mega Millions jackpots start at $20 million, and other prizes pay from $1 million to $2 million or more with a Megaplier. Tickets are $2 per line, and odds of winning with a $2 Mega Millions ticket are one in 303 million. For more information on Mega Millions, or to check your past numbers, visit its website.

Powerball is the other multi-state lottery, and it also starts at $20 million. Its drawings take place shortly after 11 p.m. ET on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Here is the Powerball website for more information, or to check past winning numbers.