If your 2023 new year's resolution is to become a millionaire six hundred times over, you might want to consider buying a Mega Millions lottery ticket for the game's next drawing.
After no one matched all six numbers to win Tuesday's $565 Mega Millions jackpot, the grand prize has swelled to $640 million. According to the Illinois Lottery, its one of the only jackpots that has soared past $600 million in the game's 20 year history.
"If a player wins tonight’s massive grand prize, it would be the second highest Mega Millions jackpot of 2022 and the sixth largest in the game’s history," an announcement from the Illinois Lottery read.
Illinois Mega Millions players have been some of the luckier ones. Earlier this year, a jackpot-winning $1.34 billion Mega Millions ticket was sold at a suburban Des Plaines gas station. After taking nearly two months to come forward, the ticket winners, who have chosen to remain anonymous, claimed "the largest lottery prize ever in Illinois, and the third largest lottery prize in U.S. history," the Illinois Lottery says.
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The next Mega Millions Drawing takes place Friday at 10 p.m.
How to Play
Each ticket costs $2 to play. Players also have the option to add a "Megaplier" option to their tickets. That addition costs $1, and can potentially multiply any non-jackpot prize a player wins.
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To play, players are asked to pick five numbers between 1-and-70, and to choose one Mega Ball.
Players can either pick their own numbers, or can have the machine select numbers for them. Tickets must be purchased one hour or more before the drawing.
How to Win
There are nine different ways to win prizes in the game.
If you match all five numbers and the Mega Ball, you win the jackpot. The odds of doing so are around 1-in-302 million.
Here are the other eight prize levels. All of these prizes are subject to the “Megaplier,” which can increase the given prize.
Match five numbers: $1 million
Match four numbers and the Mega Ball: $10,000
Match four numbers: $500
Match three numbers and the Mega Ball: $200
Match three numbers: $10
Match two numbers and the Mega Ball: $10
Match one number and the Mega Ball: $4
Match the Mega Ball: $2
Tickets can be checked at any Illinois Lottery retailer, or via the Illinois Lottery’s mobile app.
Prizes of $600 or lower can be claimed at participating retailers, with certain limitations. Prizes over that amount must be redeemed at Illinois Lottery customer service centers.
