FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BOISE, Idaho – With no nationwide winner on Mega Millions from Friday night’s draw, the estimated jackpot for Tuesday night is $1.1 billion. This is the fifth largest Lottery jackpot in United States history. In Idaho there were 16,234 winning tickets for a total of $115,842 from last Friday night.

“One ticket can change everything. But we want to remind everyone participating that it does only take one ticket to win,” said Jeff Anderson, Idaho Lottery Director. “We have done research and we know without a shadow of a doubt that every winner has purchased at least one ticket for that game.”

On Monday, a group of nine individuals from across the Treasure Valley claimed the $1,000,000 Mega Millions winning ticket from the November 15, 2022, draw. Dubbed “The Big Friend Group”, the nine long-time friends have been playing as a pool for about twelve years. They purchase their tickets once a month as a group with each member buying a single line per draw. The group did not immediately check their winners from November. Once they saw news stories about the outstanding ticket in December, the group checked their tickets and realized they had the big winner. After everyone returned from their holiday vacations, they claimed their prize. The consensus among the group was, indeed, that to win you had to buy at least one ticket.

“Buying more tickets doesn’t necessarily increase your odds of winning the jackpot,” explained Anderson further. “Each ticket purchased has an equal chance of winning as every other ticket. You have to be in it to win it. We encourage everyone who would like to participate, to play and have the opportunity to imagine what they would do with their winnings, but to please play wise and only play what you can afford, to not go overboard.”

Players have until 7:55 PM Mountain Time on Tuesday evening, January 10, 2023 to purchase tickets for this historic draw. The Idaho Lottery encourages everyone who wishes to participate not to wait until the last minute to buy their tickets as there may be lengthy lines at busy retail locations.

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ABOUT THE IDAHO LOTTERY

The Idaho Lottery responsibly provides a variety of entertaining games featuring Powerball, Mega Millions, Scratch GamesTM, and PullTabs with a high degree of integrity to maximize the dividend for Idaho public schools and the permanent building fund. Since their inception in 1989, the Idaho Lottery has sold over $5 billion in products, awarded more than $3.1 billion in prizes to players, returned $293 million in retail commissions, and distributed $1.1 billion in Lottery dividends to Idaho public schools and buildings. To learn more, please visit www.idaholottery.com.