The jackpot for Tuesday
night's Mega Millions lottery drawing has swollen to $454 million, making it
one of the 10 largest prizes in U.S. lottery history, lottery officials said.
A drawing for the multistate
Mega Millions prize will be held at 11 p.m. EDT and aired and streamed on
multiple outlets.
The Mega Millions game is
played in 44 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The odds of
winning this jackpot are one in nearly 259 million.
"With strong sales
around the country, the estimated jackpot for Tuesday night's Mega Millions
drawing has been raised," lottery officials said in a statement.
The Mega Millions jackpot
has jumped twice after Friday night's drawing failed to produce a winning
ticket worth $415 million. The jackpot has been growing since early March, when
a Washington state man snagged $157 million with his winning ticket.
Each $1 ticket sold makes up
the hefty prize, which is worth $319 million if a winner chooses an immediate
cash payout instead of an initial payment and then 29 annual payments.
Ticket sales typically
increase as the prize grows, lottery officials said.
The current prize is the
game's biggest since December 2013, when holders of two tickets sold in
California and Georgia shared a $648 million jackpot. The largest Mega Millions
jackpot, worth $656 million, was sold the prior year.
In January, three winning
Powerball tickets were sold in Florida, Tennessee and California to claim a
share of nearly $1.6 billion, the largest prize to have been won on a single
lottery game anywhere in the world.
On social media on Tuesday,
ticket holders fantasized about their plans if they won the prize, including
plans to buy expensive clothing and even sports teams.
"If I win tonight's
Mega Millions, I'm going to buy my own basketball league," comedian
Spencer Hicks tweeted.
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