Is Friday The 13th Your Lucky Day? $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot Drawing Tonight.
Texas Lottery® players will be testing their luck this Friday the 13th, as they play for an estimated annuitized $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot, the second-largest jackpot prize in game history and fourth largest in U.S. lottery history. According to Mega Millions, six prior Mega Millions jackpots have been won by out-of-state players on Friday the 13th. As of 1 p.m. today, current hourly sales per minute in Texas are $16,089.
The Friday, Jan. 13, 2023 drawing offers a cash value worth an estimated $724.6 million. If there is no jackpot winner for tonight’s Mega Millions drawing, the jackpot prize for the Tuesday, Jan. 17 drawing will roll to an estimated annuitized $1.62 billion.
The number 13 has been a lucky one for the Texas Lottery when it comes to the Mega Millions game. To date, there have been 13 Mega Millions jackpot prize winners in Texas Lottery history and in 2022, 13 Texas Lottery players won second-tier Mega Millions prizes of $1 million or larger.
“The Texas Lottery is hoping that at least one of our players has a lot of good luck this Friday the 13th and is fortunate enough to win the enormous Mega Millions jackpot prize that is up for grabs in tonight’s drawing,” said Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery. “As this jackpot has grown over the last several weeks, sales for the game in Texas have been robust and we expect to see a strong sales pace in the hours leading up to tonight’s drawing. Playing for jackpot prizes like the one we’re currently seeing is exciting for lottery players, so we want to remind our players to play responsibly; it only takes one ticket to win. Also, if it appears that you have the jackpot-winning ticket after tonight’s drawing, we encourage you to sign the ticket, put it in a safe place, seek financial and legal advice and call the Texas Lottery to schedule an appointment to claim the prize.”
Friday’s drawing will be the 26th in the current Mega Millions jackpot run since starting as an estimated annuitized $20 million for the Oct. 18, 2022 drawing. This is the largest Mega Millions jackpot up for grabs since the Oct. 23, 2018 drawing when it reached an estimated $1.537 billion – the game’s largest jackpot prize, which was won by an out of state player.
Texas’ most recent Mega Millions jackpot winner came in September 2019 when a Leander resident won an estimated annuitized $227 million, the largest prize ever paid out to a single Texas Lottery player. During the current jackpot run, three Texas Lottery players have won second-tier Mega Millions prizes of $1 million or larger. A Whitesboro resident claimed a $3 million second-tier prize for the drawing held on Nov. 1, 2022. More recently, two second-tier prize winning tickets worth $1 million each were sold at the same retailer – Luck Zone, located at 1250 E. Palm Valley Blvd., in Round Rock – for the Dec. 20, 2022 and Jan. 3, 2023 drawings. Both of those prizes are yet to be claimed.
A second-tier Mega Millions prize worth $1 million from the July 29, 2022 drawing has yet to be claimed by a Texas Lottery player and will expire on Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. local time if not claimed by the deadline. The winning ticket for the unclaimed prize was sold at Fuel Maxx #47, located at 420 University Drive, in Prairie View. A winning ticket worth $1 million for the same drawing was sold in Plano and has recently been claimed.
Mega Millions is played by choosing five numbers from a field of 70 and one Mega Ball number from the second field of 25 numbers. To win the Mega Millions jackpot, players must match all six numbers drawn including the Mega Ball. Players matching fewer numbers may not win the jackpot, but could still walk away winners. Mega Millions currently offers a $20 million starting jackpot and a second-tier (Match 5+0) prize of $1 million. By choosing the Megaplier® feature for $1 more per Play, players can multiply their non-jackpot winnings by two, three, four or five times, winning as much as $5 million.
Drawings are broadcast each Tuesday and Friday at 10:12 p.m. CT. Texas Lottery players can purchase Mega Millions tickets at more than 20,000 Texas Lottery retailers across the state. Ticket sales for the next Mega Millions drawing will close at 9:45 p.m. CT on Friday, Jan. 13. The retailer that sells a jackpot-winning Mega Millions ticket may be eligible to receive up to a $1 million retailer bonus.
Note: This article is taken from focusdailynews.com
