$640M Mega Millions Jackpot In Friday’s Drawing: What To Know In IL

ILLINOIS — An estimated $640 million Mega Millions jackpot is up for grabs in Friday’s drawing after no one won the winning numbers Tuesday, the 21st straight drawing without a winner.

In Tuesday’s drawing, no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night – the white balls 9, 13, 36, 59, and 61, plus the gold Mega Ball 11. Drawings are held at 10 p.m. Central on Tuesdays and Fridays.

If a winning ticket is sold for Friday’s drawing, the winner could be paid with an annuity, doled out through annual payments over 29 years. Nearly all winners take the cash option, which for Friday's drawing will be an estimated $328.3 million.

Lottery players in Illinois have claimed more than $4 billion in prizes since 2002, according to Mega Millions records. Earlier this year, a ticket worth $1.37 billion ($780.5 million cash) was won in a partnership on a ticket that was sold in Des Plaines.

Winning Mega Millions $1.337 Billion Jackpot Ticket Sold In Illinois

The prize was the biggest won in Illinois on a Mega Millions ticket out of the 13 winners who have captured cash prizes over the year in the state.

The huge Mega Millions jackpot comes less than two months after a record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot was won in California on Nov. 8. The player has yet to come forward to claim the prize.

The reason for all the big prizes is simple — long odds of 1 in 302.6 million ensure there are few winners, and the long streaks of lottery futility allow jackpots to grow ever larger week after week.

In the 21 drawings since the jackpot was last won on Oct. 14, there have been more than 17 million winning tickets at all prize levels. These include 40 worth $1 million or more, won in 18 different states from coast to coast: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

On Wednesday night, a Yorkville woman was named as a finalist for the Illinois Lottery's First Millionaire of the Year award, which will be drawn on New Year's Eve, lottery officials said The woman, Cynthia Hines-Butler, is one of 29 people who will be involved in the nationwide drawing, which will be held just after midnight on Dec. 31. If Hines-Butler wins, she would capture the $1 million prize just more than a week after a $1 million ticket was sold in Alton on Dec. 22.

In late November, another lucky winner captured a $1 million prize after a winning ticket was sold in Tinley Park, officials said. A whopping $4 million prize was won on Nov. 11 when a Mega Millions ticket was sold in Murphysboro after the winner matched four numbers and then hit the megaplier feature to win the big prize.

Three other $1 million winning tickets have been sold around the state since October as lucky winners continue to cash in.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.