Save those holiday-gift lottery tickets: Mega Millions jackpot surpasses $1bn

Odds of winning jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350, compared with 1 in 24 for any Mega Millions prize, and tickets cost $2

The Mega Millions jackpot has surpassed $1bn after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Christmas Eve. That means the estimated jackpot for Friday’s drawing is $1.15bn, potentially the fifth-largest jackpot in the game’s history.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15bn jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a Wednesday statement.

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