COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Half a billion dollars would be a great early Christmas present and one Mega Millions player could realize that gift.
Tuesday's drawing of the national lottery game could be worth an estimated $619 million for a winning ticket, although most winners choose a one-time cash payment, in this case worth $293.6 million.
The jackpot represents the tenth richest in the game's history.
Tuesday's winning numbers are 12, 14, 26, 48 and 52; the Mega Ball is 21 and the Megaplier is 5X.
To win the jackpot, players must match the five winning white balls and the Mega Ball.
Mega Millions has traditionally been a bit stingy during the holiday season: since 2002, only 13 jackpots have been won during December, with only one worth more than Tuesday's jackpot (a $648 million prize won in 2013). This is also only the third time in the game's history that the available jackpot exceeded $500 million in December; the last time was in 2022, when the jackpot eventually climbed to $1.3 billion and was won in January 2023.
The Mega Millions jackpot was last won on Sept. 10 for $810 million. Since then, more than 15 million winning tickets worth at least $2 have been sold; this includes 38 worth $1 million or more, according to the lottery; at least one of those winners is from Ohio.
The odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24; the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
Winning numbers are drawn at 11 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays.
