The drawing for the lottery’s third biggest prize took place on Friday. It rose to such an astronomical figure after 29 straight draws without a winner. The winning numbers for Friday’s draw were: 13-36-45-57-67, with Mega Ball 14. Image: People wait in line outside the Blue Bird Liquor store to buy Mega Millions lottery tickets in Hawthorne, California. Photo: AP The jackpot is the largest lottery prize in nearly four years. The winner can either claim the $1.28bn prize in the annuity option, which spreads the amount over 30 annual payments, or a cash option for around $747.2m (£613.3m). Almost all jackpot winners choose the cash option. Those who opt for the full prize could finally afford to buy the world’s largest yacht twice. The 590-foot-long megayacht is owned by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates. The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 302.5 million. If no one wins Friday night’s jackpot, lottery officials expect the prize to rise to around $1.7 billion (£1.4 billion) for Tuesday’s next draw – the nation’s biggest lottery prize . Image: People buy Mega Millions lottery tickets. Photo: AP The UK’s biggest ever National Lottery jackpot was £195 million and was won in May this year. It beat the €220m (£185m) jackpot won in France in October 2021, which was Europe’s previous record jackpot.
