Jackpot rolls past the $500 million mark for third time in 2024
The blazing hot summer temperatures in Maryland began to cool off a little this week, but Mega Millions evidently didn’t get the message.
The game’s jackpot surged past half a billion dollars with no winner on Tuesday night. But the Aug. 20 drawing did produce a $10,000 winner on a ticket sold at the Shoppers grocery store at 1170 Smallwood Drive in Waldorf.
The winning numbers were 5, 20, 26, 49, 51; and the Mega Ball was 24. The ticket sold at the Shoppers in Waldorf matched four of the first five numbers and also matched the Mega Ball. It was one of 23 third-tier winners of $10,000 across the country in the Aug. 20 drawing, which also produced a $1 million winner in Arizona and a $4 million winner in Delaware.
The Mega Millions jackpot has been hit twice so far in 2024. A ticket sold in New Jersey won an estimated annuity value of $1.128 billion ($536.6 million cash value) on March 26. And the last jackpot win was June 4, when an Illinois Lottery player won an estimated $552 million annuity ($260.2 million cash value).
The jackpot for the next drawing on Friday, Aug. 23 has an estimated annuity value of $527 million, with an estimated cash option of $261.9 million. Mega Millions tickets are $2 each, and sales for Friday night’s drawing close at 10:45 p.m. Mega Millions drawings are held at 11 p.m. each Tuesday and Friday and can be viewed via the Watch The Drawings page of mdlottery.com.
Winners are encouraged to sign the backs of tickets and keep winning tickets in a safe location. Tickets for draw games expire 182 days after the drawing. The last date to claim for scratch-off tickets is on game’s tile on the scratch-off page.
Instructions for claiming prizes are available on the How to Claim page of the Lottery website. Prizes of more than $25,000 must be claimed through Lottery headquarters, either in person or by mail. Lottery headquarters is in the Montgomery Park Business Center, 1800 Washington Blvd., Suite 330, in Baltimore. An appointment is required to claim in person (no walk-ins). The appointment scheduling page shows all available appointment times.
