The Mega Millions jackpot for Friday’s lottery drawing has increased to an estimated $42 million with a cash option of $18.8 million. The drawing will be held at 10:59 p.m. and televised on WABC-7 in New York City and Fox 29 in Philadelphia. NJ.com will publish the winning numbers immediately following the conclusion of the drawing.

The Mega Millions lottery jackpot was an estimated $42 million with a cash option of $18.8 million for Friday night's drawing, according to the Mega Millions website. The jackpot was last won on on Dec. 27 when a lottery player in California won $1.269 billion - the fifth largest Mega Millions ever.

Did you play Mega Millions today? Check out the winning numbers for the Jan. 3, 2025 drawing and see if it's your lucky day.

Is today your lucky day? The numbers for the Mega Millions jackpot will be drawn at around 11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot is $1.15 billion; Thursday’s Ohio Lottery results Dec. 26, 2024, 11:38 p.m. Players pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers -- five different numbers from 1 to 70 and one number from 1 to 25 -- or select Easy Pick. A player wins the jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in a drawing.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a news release before the jackpot rose again to $1.22 billion.