AUSTIN – With spring’s arrival, Mega Millions has burst into full bloom as the jackpot for the Tuesday, March 19 drawing has blossomed to an estimated annuitized $893 million. With tonight’s jackpot ranked as the sixth largest in game history and the 10th largest in U.S. lottery history, the cash value for tonight’s jackpot is worth an estimated $421.4 million. If there is no jackpot winner in the next Mega Millions drawing, the jackpot for the Friday, March 22 drawing will roll to an estimated $977 million.
“Texas Lottery players are beginning a new season of the year with jackpot fever, as they have a chance to win one of the largest Mega Millions jackpot prizes on record tonight,” said Ryan Mindell, deputy executive director of the Texas Lottery. “We continue to see a spike in Mega Millions sales in Texas over the last few weeks, ultimately benefitting public education in our state. As this jackpot continues to grow, we want to remind everyone to play responsibly; it only takes one ticket to win.”
Tuesday’s drawing will be the 29th in the current Mega Millions jackpot run since starting as an estimated annuitized $20 million for the Dec. 12, 2023 drawing. This is the largest Mega Millions jackpot up for grabs since the Aug. 8, 2023 drawing when a $1.602 billion – the game’s largest jackpot prize – was won by an out of state player.
Texas has had 14 Mega Millions jackpot prize winners since it joined the game in 2003. Its most recent winner came in October 2023 when The Blue Yucca Trust won an estimated annuitized $360 million prize. The claimant chose the cash value option and received $157,367,045 before taxes; the largest prize ever paid out to a single Texas Lottery player.
Since the start of 2024, two Texas Lottery players have won second-tier Mega Millions prizes of $1 million or larger. Most recently, a winning ticket worth $1 million that was sold in Richwood for the March 8 drawing was claimed by a Richwood resident. Before that, a Longview resident claimed a $2 million second-tier prize for the Jan. 2 drawing; the ticket was sold in Longview.
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 Tuesday, March 19. The retailer that sells a jackpot-winning Mega Millions ticket may be eligible to receive up to a $1 million retailer bonus.
