The estimated Mega Millions jackpot for Friday’s drawing is $489 million, with a cash option of about $220.9 million. A ticket costs $5, and the prize grows because no one has matched all six winning numbers in the latest sequence of drawings after the $60 million prize won on March 17.
Players must match five different numbers from 1 to 70 and one number from 1 to 25 to take the jackpot. The odds are 1 in 302,575,350, so the top prize is far larger than the chance of hitting it.
Mega Millions drawing rules
Jackpot winners can choose 30 annual payments that increase by five percent or take a lump sum. The cash option is the lump-sum path, and it is the figure most players use when weighing what the advertised jackpot really means.
Mega Millions drawings are held on Tuesdays and Fridays, so the Friday result will decide whether the $489 million total is paid out or rolled forward again. A winning ticket must match all six numbers in a single drawing.
45 states and Washington D
The game is offered in 45 states, Washington D, and the Virgin Islands. That broad reach is why a Friday prize at this level draws attention from players across a large number of jurisdictions, even though each ticket still faces the same odds.
For anyone buying in before the drawing, the practical step is simple: check a ticket against the six numbers after Friday’s draw and keep it if the numbers do not match. If no ticket matches all six numbers, the jackpot climbs again for the next drawing.
