The Mega Millions lottery produced no jackpot winners in the Friday, January 23, drawing. But lottery players seem to be still buzzing over the $270 million jackpot won in Illinois last Friday. The level of enthusiasm for the nationwide lottery game remains high, with more tickets sold for Friday’s drawing than for any drawing with a jackpot of $20 million or less since April of last year.
Of course, the higher the jackpot, the higher the ticket sales. On January 16, when one ticket hit the jackpot for that $270 million Mega Millions prize, there were more than 52 million tickets sold in the 44 states plus two other jurisdictions where Mega Millions tickets are on sale.
That number was the highest for any drawing since November 4, when a retired school principal in upstate New York had the one winning ticket out of more than 75 million sold, good for a $326 million Mega Millions jackpot.
The winner of last week’s $270 million Mega Millions prize has not yet come forward. In fact, the Illinois lottery is so eager to find out who the winner is, that the state’s lottery commission has set up a special phone number for the winner to call.
“We want the winner to know they don’t have to wait until Tuesday to come to a lottery office to make their claim, we will come to them,” Illinois Lottery Director Michael Jones said last week. “If you are holding the winning $270 million Mega Millions ticket please call 217-524-5158 immediately.”
The jackpot for Friday’s drawing was a “mere” $20 million, but it still attracted 17,337,391 individual ticket sales. None of the prior 14 drawings in which the Mega Millions jackpot was $20 million, or $15 million — the two lowest possible jackpot totals in the game — sold as many tickets.
Even without a jackpot winner of $1 million “Match 5” second-place winner, tickets sold for Friday’s drawing , if all of the winners are redeemed by their holders, will still be worth more than $2 million.
Is any of that cash yours? Find out by checking your Mega Millions ticket against the following numbers, drawn at 10:59 pm Eastern Time in Atlanta, Georgia:
14 — 15 — 32 — 68 — 72 Mega Ball 8
The next Mega Millions drawing will be held on Tuesday, January 27, when the jackpot will be worth an estimated $25 million.
