Discover what winning a billion-dollar Illinois Lottery jackpot really means. The experts share what to know about massive Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots.
A little over a month ago, $1.33 billion, the third-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, was won by someone who purchased their Mega Millions ticket right here in Illinois at a Speedway gas station in Des Plaines. When you look at that kind of money, you wonder why the winner has not announced themselves to lottery officials yet.
One lucky Mega Millions lottery ticket-buyer in Illinois is going to be a billionaire following Friday night’s $1.337 billion drawing, but the question is are we ever going to know that person's name?
We saw the fifth highest jackpot in Illinois history last week. No winner means that we will get the third highest jackpot in Illinois history this week.
As of this writing, tonight's Mega Millions lottery jackpot stands at $660 million, which makes the 10pm drawing now the 3rd biggest jackpot ever. Only two billion-dollar jackpots have ever been higher; $1.537 billion won in South Carolina on October 23rd, 2018, and $1.050 billion won in Michigan on January 22nd, 2021.