Personal Finance

Mega Millions jackpot at $868 million, the second-largest US lottery prize ever

Key Points
  • The jackpot for the U.S. lottery game "Mega Millions" has reached $868 million.
  • The next draw takes place on Friday.
  • The biggest ever lottery prize is $1.59 billion, shared by three winning tickets in Jan, 2016.
This is what you do if you win the lottery
VIDEO1:1801:18
This is what you do if you win the lottery

The top prize for the U.S. lottery Mega Millions has reached $868 million, the second-largest grand prize in U.S. history.

Lottery officials upped the jackpot, which had been at $667 million, after nobody claimed the win in Tuesday's draw. The next draw takes place on Friday.

The jackpot has been rolling since it was last won on July 24, when a California office pool of 11 co-workers shared $543 million, the largest prize ever won on a single ticket in a Mega Millions game.

The all-time biggest win was drawn on Jan. 13, 2016, when three winning tickets shared $1.586 billion in the separate Powerball lottery.

And the largest single ticket win that was not shared out was by Mavis L. Wanczyk of Chicopee, Massachusetts. She claimed the winning ticket for the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot in August of 2017.

Wanczyk decided to take the lump sum for the prize, accepting $480.5 million before taxes.