Friday night's Mega Millions drawing featured a top prize estimated to be just under one billion dollars. To put that figure in terms Texans could understand let me suggest this as a visualization.

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If you laid out one billion one dollar bills end to end, they would stretch from the Seawall on the beach at Galveston, Texas to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Harris County, Texas. And you'd still have enough dollar bills left over to create a path to Humble, Texas from there.

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A billion dollars is a lot of money, so it's no wonder so many people in Texas and across the fruited plains, where lotteries are legal, sorry Alabama, made a choice to plunk down two or three dollars to participate in Friday night's drawing.

If you purchased a ticket. Here is the information that you are looking for, namely what were the numbers that were drawn.

That's the way the ping pong balls bounced on Friday night. If you couldn't watch the drawing on video.

Here Are The Mega Millions Winning Numbers for Friday March 22, 2024:

03   08   31   35   44   Mega Ball 16   Megaplier x3

Please verify your tickets using the Official Mega Millions website. If you have multiple numbers you need to check you can do that with ease. But we can save you a few steps before you do all of that digging.

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Did Anyone Win The Mega Millions Jackpot?

Short answer is NO, that did not happen in Friday night's drawing. There were some close calls. Six tickets sold across the game's footprint earned Match 5 prizes. Match 5 is when a ticket matches all five of the white ball numbers but not the Mega Ball. The prize for Match 5 is one million dollars. Unless the player opts-in for the Megaplier.

The Megaplier is what separates Mega Millions from Powerball in this particular aspect. Powerball has a similar "multiplier" with Power Play. However, in Powerball when a player matches five and has the "multiplier" engaged the most they can win is $2 million. In Mega Millions a player would get "the actual multiplier".

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In the case of Friday's game that would be "times 3".  And since one of the players last night had the Megaplier in play their prize will be $3 million. That big money winner was sold in Virginia.

Mega Millions Reveals Texas Ticket as One Million Dollar Winner on Friday

The other five Match 5 tickets were sold in California, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, and Texas. This makes the third million dollar lottery win this week for Texas Lottery players. There was a one million dollar winner in Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing on a Texas ticket and another on Wednesday's Powerball. Several of those big money tickets were sold in the Houston, Texas metro, so check your numbers if that's where you played.

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Friday's big win in Texas happened in the town of Creedmoor.  Creedmoor is a suburb of Austin and is part of the ever growing "metroplex" that the land between Austin and San Antonio has morphed into over the past three decades. Our sources at Mega Millions did confirm the winning ticket was purchased at Refuel 337 a lottery retailer located on FM 1327.

How Much is the Mega Millions Jackpot Now?

The game's estimated annuitized top prize for next Tuesday's drawing is $1.1 billion dollars. A winning ticket that opted for the lump sum payout of the prize would earn $528.8 million. Of course, Uncle Sam and his sticky fingered friends would want to get their share of the money so you wouldn't walk away with all of that money. But, you'd still have a nice life-changing increase in your personal net worth.

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What is the Powerball Jackpot?

The Powerball Jackpot is an estimated $750 million. That's the annuity estimation, the lump sum guess is about $360.8 million. We say "estimated" because the actual jackpot will be determined ultimately by the number of tickets sold for the drawing. That drawing is at 10 p.m. CDT.

Please note that most lottery tickets purchased do not translate into money coming back to the player. So, please play with only what you can afford to lose. If you need assistance with a gambling issue you may call 1-800-GAMBLER (426-2537). You'll be connected with a caring professional who can offer assistance free of charge. Good Luck.

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Gallery Credit: Dan Patrick

 

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