Mega Millions Numbers for 09/17/21: Did Anyone Win the $405 Million?
The winning Mega Millions numbers for Friday were 17, 32, 40, 59, and 61, and the Mega Ball number was 18 while the Megaplier was 3X, according to the Mega Millions website.
There was a top prize of $405 million and a cash option of $293.2 million up for grabs, but did anyone take home the big one?
According to the Mega Millions website, no ticket matched all five numbers and the Mega Ball to win the big prize, so the jackpot gets even bigger. There was one winner of the $1 million prize for matching all five numbers.
There were 18 winners of the $10,000 prize for those who matched four numbers and the Mega Ball. One tripled their winnings by using the Megaplier.
There were 570 players who won $500 by matching four numbers, 84 of whom tripled their prize to $1,500 with the Megaplier.
Some 1,448 players won $200 by matching three numbers and the Mega Ball, with 252 players winning $600 by using the Megaplier. Over 916,000 tickets won prizes of at least $2.
The top prize continues to grow with the next estimated jackpot set at $432 million with a cash option of $312.8 million.
The next drawing on Tuesday will be the 30th of this current jackpot run, which began June 11 after the last big prize was won in Illinois on June 8.
The prize on offer in the next drawing will be the 12th largest in the lottery's history, Mega Millions said in a statement.
There have been four Mega Millions jackpots in 2021. At the start of the year, the second-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history, which was $1.05 billion, was won on January 22 by a group of players in Michigan.
Other jackpots won in 2021 were $516 million in Pennsylvania on May 21, and $96 million in New York on February 16.
How Does Mega Millions work?
Tickets can be bought in 45 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, although lottery tickets are not available in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah.
Each ticket from a lottery retailer costs $2 and the Megaplier is an extra $1. The jackpot starts at $20 million and other prizes range from $2 to $1 million.
Five numbers between 1 to 70 are chosen for the white balls while one number between 1 and 25 for the gold numbers is chosen. Players can also get a random selection via the Easy Pick or Quick Pick options.
The winner of the top prize can claim it either as an annuity or as cash. This can mean they choose a one-off payment which is followed by 29 annual payments, with each payment worth five percent more than the previous one.
They can also choose the cash option which is a one-time, lump-sum payment equal to all the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool.
The drawings are held on Tuesday and Friday at WSB-TV in Atlanta, in which five white balls are taken from a set numbered 1 through 70. One gold Mega Ball is drawn from a set numbered 1 through 25.
