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Tuesday night’s Mega Millions lottery jackpot for July 26, 2022, is worth an estimated $810 million. When will you find out if anyone won the jackpot? Here’s how to stay updated on whether or not someone won.
Results Typically Take at Least 2 Hours to be Known
How long it takes to get back the results of a Mega Millions drawing often depends on how many people played. The larger a jackpot gets, the longer it takes to know the results. So if you were playing back when the jackpot was much smaller, you might have known if anyone won much faster than you would tonight.
The drawing takes place at 11 p.m. Eastern every Tuesday and Friday. If it takes about two hours after a drawing to find out if anyone won, then this means the results are typically announced by 1 a.m. Eastern. So you can expect typically expect to know if anyone won between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. Eastern tonight.
Please note that knowing if someone won is not the same as knowing the winning numbers. The winning jackpot numbers are announced during the drawing at 11 p.m. Eastern. After that, however, it takes awhile to process all the tickets and find out if anyone in a participating state won the jackpot.
In fact, sometimes when drawings get very large, results can take quite awhile to reutrn. Back in December 2019, for example, the $340 million drawing results weren’t announced until 2 a.m. Eastern, when participants learned that no one had won the big jackpot. Sometimes it takes even longer than that.
What Is the Quickest Way to Know if Someone Won?
How can you stay updated to know if someone won?
The most reliable and often fastest way is by checking the Mega Millions website. If a winning jackpot ticket was sold, Mega Millions will update its website to show the jackpot is starting over at $20 million.
Until then, Mega Millions’ website will read that the estimated jackpot for the next drawing is “Pending.” If no one wins, then the estimated jackpot will be increased from its current $810 million.
(Update: The Mega Millions website crashed shortly after the drawing, Heavy reported here. While the website is still your best source for staying updated on if anyone won, you can also check the LotteryHUB app and website, which lists the results as “pending” as of 12:50 a.m. Eastern. In 2014, MegaMillions reported that LotteryHUB was the official app of Powerball and Mega Millions. Another app that is providing updates is the MMPB app.)
How to Win
In order to win the jackpot, you’d need to match all five white balls and the yellow Mega ball.
The odds of winning Mega Millions are 1 in 302.5 million.
Tonight’s jackpot is worth $810 million. The cash option, if the winner chooses that, will be $470.1 million (this is how much it’s worth if taken in a lump sum all at once before taxes.)
The final awarded jackpot amount often doesn’t exactly match the advertised amount. Mega Millions explains that this is because: “while based on trends and historical patterns, [the totals] are still estimates. When jackpots become extremely large, there are few precedents upon which to base the estimates. Typically, as much as 70% of sales occur on the drawing day, so forecasting precise numbers in advance can be difficult and can be affected by external factors such as the weather. Changes in both sales and the U.S. Treasuries rate explain why the advertised jackpot amounts are always noted as estimates. Historically, actual winning jackpots have come in at levels above, below, and equal to the estimated figures in roughly similar proportions. And regardless of whether a jackpot-winning player chooses the cash value or the annuity option, they receive the available jackpot based on actual sales, which may vary from the estimated jackpot.”