Mega Millions Numbers Yield No New Jackpot Winner, Ticket Sales Lowest Since 2012


The Mega Millions numbers that came up in Tuesday’s drawing matched none of the more than 13.7 million tickets sold for the first new set of numbers, three days after the eighth Mega Millions winner of 2014.

There have now been 52 Mega Millions drawings in 2014. In all 105 drawings last year, Mega Millions produced only 10 winners — despite the fact that for the first 84 of those drawings, Mega Millions still had odds of about 175 million to one. After that, the nationwide lottery game revamped its format to stretch the odds to a staggering 259 million to one, where they have been ever since.

But even with the longer odds, Mega Millions is producing winners at a faster rate this year than last. Of course, the flurry of winners is probably just a statistical glitch, and of the odds even out over the rest of the year as would be expected, the game could be in for a long stretch of drawings with no big winner.

And that means the country could be in for a record-challenging Mega Millions jackpot sometime before the year is out.

That’s good news for the Mega Millions lottery, which appears to be struggling with holding the interest of lottery player nationwide in the absence of staggering, nine-figure jackpots. Tuesday’s drawing saw only 13,721,711 tickets sold. That’s the lowest sales figure in the 52 drawings of 2014.

In fact, Tuesday’s sales were the lowest of any Mega Millions drawing since Christmas Day of 2012, when the lottery — then still under its old format — sold just 13,632,332 tickets.

Saturday’s Mega Millions winner remains anonymous after four days, which is not unusual. What is known is that the lucky holder of a Mega Millions ticket worth $33 million bought that ticket at Moulton Grocery and Market in Moulton, Texas. The owner of that gas station and convenience store will receive $330,000 from the Texas lottery as a bonus for selling the winning ticket.

The winner, who will take home $19 million before taxes if he or she wants all the money at once, has 180 days to claim the life-altering prize — though the deadline can be extended for members of the U.S. military under certain conditions.

Just because there was no jackpot winner Tuesday doesn’t mean that there were no winning Mega Millions tickets good for smaller prizes. Your ticket might be one of those. Check your numbers against these, drawn at 10:59 pm in Atlanta, Georgia:

922384749 Mega Ball 15

Friday’s jackpot carries a single-payment cash value of $11.4 million.

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