• The Mega Millions jackpot again evaded players during the November 4 drawing
• The jackpot hasn’t hit since June 27
• At an estimated $843 million, the Friday drawing comes with the eighth-richest jackpot in the game’s history

Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing with an $800 million jackpot was narrowly missed by 12 tickets.

A Mega Millions ticket sold by the North Carolina Lottery shows how each ticket now includes the multiplier. At random, each $5 play automatically lands on a multiplier that ranges from 2X to 10X. The multiplier is for nonjackpot-winning prizes. (Image: Shutterstock)

The Tuesday, November 4 Mega Millions drawing marked the 37th drawing in a row in which not a single ticket matched the five white balls and the gold Mega Ball. The drawing for Friday, November 7, grows to an estimated $843 million, with the cash option at a forecasted $391.7 million.

Five of the match four + Mega Ball plays won $20K after their multiplier landed on 2X. Two plays won $30K on a 3X multiplier, and five hit for $40K by landing on the 4X multiplier.

No ticket matched all five white balls to claim Mega Millions’ best nonjackpot prize of $2 million to $20 million (dependent on the multiplier).

There were 606,046 winning tickets across all prize tiers. Collective winnings were upwards of $12.2 million.

Jackpot Unpredictability 

The rolling Mega Millions jackpot is the longest streak without a jackpot winner in the game’s history. Mega Millions debuted in May 2002, though its roots trace back to August 1996 with The Big One.

The odds of a ticket hitting the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in approximately 290.5 million. While there’s no way to shorten those odds, the jackpot is likelier to hit as the prize grows because more tickets are sold, and therefore, more number combinations are covered.

The previous record of 37 drawings was set on January 22, 2021, when a $1.05 billion jackpot was won in Michigan. Jackpot wins are always unpredictable, random events. Jackpots can be won in consecutive drawings or roll for weeks or months on end,” a Mega Millions release explained.

The longest Powerball streak without a jackpot win is 42 drawings. That run was set twice, the first when a $1.326 billion prize was won by a ticket in Oregon in April 2024, and again this past September, when two tickets sold in Missouri and Texas split a $1.787 billion jackpot.

Post-Tax Winnings 

If a single ticket wins Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot and opts for the cash, the $391.7 million would be reduced by 37% after the federal government takes its cut. The remaining $246.8 million would then be possibly subject to state taxes.

State taxes on lottery wins range anywhere from 2.5% (Arizona) to as high as 10.9% in New York.

The best states to win a major lottery prize are California, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming, as those states don’t consider lottery money as income, and therefore, don’t charge a state tax.

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