Will anyone win the $565M Mega Millions jackpot?

The Mega Millions jackpot has reached an estimated $565 million for Tuesday night’s drawing. Will somebody go into the new year half a billion dollars richer, or will the latest huge lottery prize keep growing? 

The winning numbers for the Tuesday, Dec. 27 Mega Millions drawing were 9-13-36-59-61 and Mega Ball 11.

The jackpot was last won on Oct. 14, with 20 drawings going by since then without a big winner. The $565 million prize is for the annuity option, which is paid out annually over 29 years. The cash option would pay $293.6 million. 

It’s been a record-setting year for lottery games — even Tuesday’s full prize pales in comparison to the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot won in November by someone in Southern California. 

Even though the current Mega Millions jackpot isn’t anywhere near the $2 billion mark, it’s large enough to inspire more ticket-buying, increasing the chances that someone will win.

However, the odds remain small: Each ticket has a one in 302.6 million chance at the jackpot. Buying multiple tickets boosts your odds slightly, but it’s not much in the grand scheme of things — even buying 100 tickets would only give you a 100 in 302.6 million chance.

Tuesday was one of the last drawings of 2022 for Mega Millions, which is drawn at 11 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday and Friday evenings. Powerball, with a current estimated jackpot of $215 million, will hold its next drawing Wednesday night. 

Mega Millions says the current $565 million jackpot is the sixth largest in the game’s history. But when other games are factored in, this huge prize isn’t even in the top 10. Here’s a look at the 10 largest U.S. jackpots that have been won and the states where the winning tickets were sold, according to the Associated Press: 

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 (one ticket, from California)

2. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)

3. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)

4. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)

5. $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)

6. $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)

7. $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)

8. $731.1 million, Powerball, Jan. 20, 2021 (one ticket, from Maryland)

9. $699.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 4, 2021 (one ticket, from California)

10. $687.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 27, 2018 (two tickets, from Iowa and New York)

The Associated Press contributed to this report.