Mega Millions: Winning numbers for Friday, March 22

WASHINGTON — The Mega Millions jackpot is getting close to $1 billion: Will there be a winner Friday night to stop the jackpot from growing any bigger?

The jackpot was estimated to be $977 billion ahead of Friday’s drawing. If the estimate stays the same and no one wins Friday, it will cross the billion-dollar mark for next week’s drawings. This is just the sixth time in the lottery game’s nearly 22-year history that the jackpot has gone this high. 

If somebody does match all the numbers correctly, they’ll have the option of taking a lump sum of $461 million for Friday’s jackpot. 

Mega Millions hasn’t seen a grand prize winner since December 8, 2023, when two tickets shared a $394 million jackpot.

Last year was a big year for massive lottery jackpots, with two Mega Millions jackpots and one Powerball jackpot each worth over $1 billion. 

The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 302,575,350.

The winning numbers were  3-8-31-35-44, 16 Mega Ball and 3x MegaPlier.

Mega Millions drawings take place on Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 (one ticket, from California)
2. $1.602 billion, Mega Millions, August 8, 2023 (one ticket, from Florida)
3. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)
4. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)
5. $1.348 billion Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023 (one ticket, from Maine)
6. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)
7. $1.08 billion, Powerball, July 19, 2023 (one ticket, from California)
8. $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)
9. $977 million (estimated), Mega Millions, March 22, 2024
10. $842.4 million, Powerball, Jan. 1, 2024 (one ticket, from Michigan)

The Associated Press contributed to this report.