The Mega Millions Christmas Eve jackpot is $1 billion.
Tuesday night’s drawing, which happens an hour before midnight in Atlanta, could mean a holiday windfall for a lucky winner whose $2 ticket defies one in 302,575,350 odds.
“Tis the season of giving, and today we’re thrilled to be able to raise the Mega Millions jackpot for the Christmas Eve drawing to $1 billion,” Mega Millions Consortium director Joshua Johnston said in a statement announcing the huge payout.
The $1 billion prize winner — who would be made a hundred-millionaire after taxes — will have to correctly guess the numbers on five white balls and a gold Mega Ball. The cash prize for that winning combo amounts to a little less than half the advertised grand prize.
Mega Millions’ last grand prize giveaway went to an $810 million winner in Texas on Sept. 10.
Only once has a Mega Millions winner hit the right numbers on Christmas Eve, according to ABC News. That $69 million jackpot, which was won in New York in 2002, was never collected.
Mega Millions officials said Monday that a newly minted New Jersey jackpot winner finally came forward to collect on a $1.128 billion drawing that took place March 26.
The largest Mega Millions prize ever was awarded to a Floridian who won $1.602 billion in August 2023.