Mega Millions Numbers for 09/24/21: Did Anyone Win the $20 Million?
The winning Mega Millions numbers for Friday were 17, 21, 27, 43, and 56, and the Mega Ball number was 15 while the Megaplier was 3X, according to the Mega Millions website.
There was a top prize of $20 million and a cash option of $14.3 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.
However, there were three winners of the $1 million prize, two from New Hampshire and one from Pennsylvania.
There were also 16 winners of the $10,000 prize for those who matched four numbers and the Mega Ball. Four of them tripled their winnings by using the Megaplier.
There were 268 players who won $500 by matching four numbers, 62 of whom tripled their prize to $1,500 with the Megaplier.
Some 746 players won $200 by matching three numbers and the Mega Ball, with 156 players winning $600 by using the Megaplier. Over 457,000 tickets won prizes of at least $2.
The jackpot will grow to $22 million for Tuesday's drawing with a cash option of $15.8 million.
It comes after one ticket holder in New York won the $431 million prize ($314.4 million cash) on Tuesday, Mega Millions said in a statement.
The big win is New York's second Mega Millions jackpot this year, following a $96 million prize won in Oneida County on February 16.
Other jackpots won in 2021 include $516 million in Pennsylvania on May 21 and $55 million in Illinois on June 8. The second-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history, $1.05 billion, was awarded to a group in Michigan on January 22.
How Does Mega Millions work?
Tickets are available in 45 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, although lottery tickets cannot be bought 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 grows when it is not won. Other prizes range from $2 to $1 million.
Players choose five numbers between 1 to 70 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.
