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Lottery ticket holders across the U.S. eagerly awaited the numbers for Tuesday's gigantic $830m Mega Millions drawing that was unveiled at 11 p.m.
Unfortunately, there were no jackpot winners for the Mega Millions lottery on July 26, pushing the next estimated jackpot to $1.02 billion.
The white balls drawn were 7, 29, 60, 63 and 66 whilst the yellow Mega Ball was 15 and the Megaplier X3.
Whilst nobody scooped the jackpot, nine lucky ticket holders took the second prize of $1 million, one of whom had the Megaplier so won $3 million.
Four white balls plus the Mega Ball were matched by 156 tickets, with the winners collecting $10,000 each except for the 36 with a Megaplier who walked away with $30,000.
In total 4,057 winners matched four white balls, collecting a bounty of $500 per ticket whilst the 683 Megaplier winners for this category got $1,500.
The lowest prize on offer, of $2 for matching just the yellow Mega Ball, was picked up by 4,446,493 players. Of these 747,150 had their winnings upgraded to $6, as they also had the Megaplier.
The next Mega Millions draw, with an astonishing estimated jackpot of $1.02 billion along with a cash option of $602.5 million, takes place on Friday at 11 p.m. ET. It can be watched live on the official Mega Millions YouTube channel.
It's been over a year since the last Mega Millions prize of over $1 billion was picked up, by Wolverine FLL Club of Oakland County, Michigan, on January 22 2021.
The last jackpot winner was on April 15, when an anonymous trust, which purchased a ticket in Pegram, Tennessee, walked away with $20 million.
If the jackpot is collected on Friday it will be only the third time a prize of more than $1 billion is collected in Mega Ball history.
The highest ever prize, of $1.5 billion, was collected by an unnamed played in South Carolina on October 23, 2018.
Friday's jackpot, if collected, with give the lucky winner more than twice as much wealth as the island nation of Tonga, with a population of just over 100,000.
According to IMF figures Tonga had a total wealth of $494,000 million in 2020.
Any winner would be able to buy a super-yacht like the Azzam, with the 590 foot luxury vessel retailing at $600 million.
Those buying tickets for Tuesday included Todd Graves, founder of the Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers fast food chain, who purchased around 50,000 for his employees.
If any of the tickets won the restaurant founder said he'd split the winnings evenly between his staff.
No Mega Ball jackpot was collected on Tuesday 19, though one lucky punter matched five number correctly securing a prize of $629,000.
What is Mega Millions and How to Play?
Mega Millions draws take place twice a week, each Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. ET.
Five white balls are pulled out, numbering from 1 to 70, along with a yellow Mega Ball numbered between 1 and 25.
A standard Mega Millions ticket costs £2, with most states also selling a Megaplier version which boosts winnings by between two and five times. See the Mega Millions website for more information.
About the writer
James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is on covering news and politics ... Read more