$415 million up for grabs in New Year's Day Mega Millions drawing - WRAL.com

By CNN Newsource

One lucky person could turn into a millionaire on New Year's Day.

With no Mega Millions winner on Friday night, the next drawing is Tuesday night for a whopping $415 million jackpot -- with a $248.8 million cash option.

Friday's winning numbers for the Mega Millions jackpot were 9, 10, 25, 37 and 38, and the MegaBall is 21. That jackpot was $348 million with a cash option of $210.2 million.

"Next Tuesday's drawing will be the fifth time Mega Millions has been drawn on the first day of a new year; the jackpot has been won once on the day -- January 1, 2008," Mega Millions said in a statement.

There hasn't been a winner since the $1.5 billion jackpot in October. That winner's identity is still a mystery, and whoever got the winning ticket has until April to claim the prize.

Mega Millions is played in 44 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the US Virgin Islands. A ticket costs $2 -- and a winner beats the odds of 1 in 302 million.

The drawing airs live on WRAL-TV right before the 11 p.m. newscast. The Mega Millions drawing Tuesday night will be the first of 2019.

Lottery officials said in a written statement that 2018 was a big year for Mega Millions, because the game, which is played in North Carolina, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and 43 other states, crossed the billion dollar threshold for the first time with a record $1.537 billion jackpot on Oct. 23.

Just one winning ticket was sold for that drawing, but the winning ticket-holder in South Carolina still has not yet come forward to claim the prize, lottery officials say.

Four other nine-figure Mega Millions jackpots were won in 2018: $451 million on Jan. 5 in Florida; $533 million on March 30 in New Jersey; $142 million on May 4 in Ohio; and $543 million on July 24 in California, according to lottery officials.

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