$875M Mega Millions Jackpot Drawing Is Tuesday: What To Know In NJ

NEW JERSEY — Lottery players in New Jersey have another shot Tuesday at one of the largest Mega Millions jackpots — $875 million — in the history of the game.

The jackpot climbed again for Tuesday’s drawing after no one matched the five white balls — 13, 25, 50, 51 and 66 — and the mega ball, which was 6, in Friday night’s drawing. Mega Millions numbers are drawn twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.

To be eligible for the jackpot, New Jersey players must buy their tickets by 9:59 p.m.

Jackpots may be paid out over a 30-year annuity, but most people take a lump sum payment, which would be $413.5 million for Tuesday’s drawing. It’s important to remember that winnings are subject to federal taxes and, often, state taxes as well.

Tickets cost $2. For another $1, players can buy the Megaplier option, which increases their non-jackpot prizes by two, three, four or five times. The Megaplier in Friday’s drawing was 5X. Mega Millions is played in 45 states; Washington, D.C.; and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Although there were no jackpot winners Friday, a ticket sold in New York matched the five white balls to win a second-tier $1 million prize. Another 39 tickets matched four white balls and the Mega ball to win third-tier prizes, which were worth $50,000 each for the nine players who played the Megaplier option. The other third-tier winners took home $10,000 each.

The top prize has been growing since Dec. 8, when the same Los Angeles gas station sold two jackpot-winning tickets. The two winners split the $394 million prize.

• Related: Gas Station Sells 2 Mega Millions Jackpot-Winning Tickets

In the 28 consecutive drawings since the last jackpot win, almost 21.5 million non-jackpot winning tickets have been sold, including 33 second-tier prizes worth $1 or more won in 19 states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Tuesday’s jackpot is the sixth-largest in the 22-year history of the Mega Millions game and the 10th-largest U.S. lottery prize. Five of those six jackpots exceeded $1 billion.

Lottery players face long odds — 1 in 302.6 million — in winning the jackpot, but the odds of winning other prizes

Since 2010, New Jersey has had 10 jackpot winners. The winners were:

• 2020: $123 million ($100.1 million cash) won by an anonymous player in Bayonne
• 2020: $202 million ($142.6 million cash) won by an anonymous player in Edison
• 2019: $273 million ($162.6 million cash) won by Michael J. Weirsky of Alpha
• 2018: $533 million won by Richard Wahl of Vernon
• 2015: $106 million won by a group of five friends from Yonkers, N.Y., and Basking Ridge
• 2013: $19 million won by Barbara Matta and Karl Herkert in Kearney
• 2013: $30 million won by Darryl and Judith Smith of Mays
• 2013: $198 million jackpot – 2 winning tickets ($99 million each), including Giuseppe "Joe" Garofalo of Tinton Falls
• 2013: $89 million won by Angel Guallpa-Mayancela of Orange
• 2012: $14 million won by Christopher Manzi of Morganville, N.J. and Willie McPherson of New York, N.Y.