2022 could end with a jackpot as Mega Millions prize hits $640M

FILE PHOTO: Mega Millions lottery sales are brisk at Bee-Gee Market on Bigger Road in Kettering Thursday, July 28, 2022. If there's a winner on Friday, the payout will be over a billion dollars. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

FILE PHOTO: Mega Millions lottery sales are brisk at Bee-Gee Market on Bigger Road in Kettering Thursday, July 28, 2022. If there's a winner on Friday, the payout will be over a billion dollars. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

The year could come to a lucky end as Mega Millions looks to close out 2022 with a $640 million jackpot prize.

The estimated drawing for the year’s final drawing Friday is $640 million — the largest Mega Millions prize ever offered in the final week of a year. The jackpot, which has a cash option of an estimated $328.3 million, climbed after no ticket matched the six numbers drawn Tuesday night.

This is the sixth time the Mega Millions jackpot has surpassed $600 million. The jackpot has passed $1 billion three times, with a South Carolina winner claiming the record-setting prize of $1.537 billion on Oct. 23, 2018, according to Mega Millions.

On July 29, a person in Illinois won a jackpot of $1.337 billion.

If a winner is drawn Friday night, it’s expected to be the sixth largest Mega Millions jackpot.

To play. a person draws six numbers, including five white balls and one gold Mega ball. To win the jackpot, a person’s ticket must match all six numbers. The odds of wining the jackpot are one in 302,575,350, according to Mega Millions.

Players who match all five white balls win $1 million. They can also win prizes ranging from $10,000 to $2 by matching various numbers.

The next drawing is 11 p.m. Friday. Tickets cost $2.

Anyone with gambling issues or struggling with gambling addiction can call the National Council on Problem Gambling’s confidential 24-hour hotline at 800-522-4700.

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