Mega Millions jackpot jumps to $565M after no winners

(NEXSTAR) – The Mega Millions jackpot is entering record territory once again after yet another drawing with no grand-prize winners.

No tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Friday evening (15, 21, 32, 38, 62, and the Mega Ball 8), sending the jackpot from $510 million to an estimated $565 million (or a cash option of $293.6 million). It’s now the sixth-largest jackpot in the history of the game, and only the 11th to cross the half-billion threshold, Mega Millions confirmed.

The current jackpot is also the “largest Mega Millions jackpot ever offered in the last week of any calendar year,” according to the latest Mega Millions press release.

The grand prize has been steadily growing since October, after two ticketholders in California and Florida matched all six numbers to share the $502-million jackpot. No one has managed to match all six numbers from any drawing since, though dozens have won second-tier prizes worth $1 million or more.

The current jackpot, however, somewhat pales in comparison to the $1.337 billion jackpot awarded earlier this year to a couple of friends in Illinois who entered into a previous agreement to split any prizes they won.

The Mega Millions prize had only ever swelled past the $1 billion mark twice before: in 2021, when it reached $1.050 billion; and in 2018, to $1.537 billion — the largest Mega Millions jackpot ever awarded.

The next Mega Millions drawing is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 27.