It's rather nice of the Houston/Galveston Forecast Office of the National Weather Service to remind us that it's going to be cold across much of Texas this weekend. As if stepping out of your front door in Tyler or trying to warm up your truck in Lufkin won't be enough of a clue, right? Seriously, it is a serious weather situation for many Texans. It's a good thing the Texas Lottery and the Mega Millions game decided to heat up our Friday night, right?

Mega Millions Jackpot Nearly 1 Billion Dollars
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Of the two multi-state lottery games available through the Texas Lottery, Mega Millions had gotten the most recent winner. That's why last night's Mega Millions jackpot was listed at $113 million and tonight's Powerball game will draw for a prize in excess of $331 million about 10 o'clock.

I suppose it's only in lottery games and lottery wins where we discount winning $113 million because we could have won so much more had we matched the right numbers in a similar game. Regardless, I bet the person holding the single ticket that matched the following numbers is waking up very excited.

Mega Millions Jackpot Nearly 1 Billion Dollars
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Here's how the drawing unfolded for Mega Millions on Saturday, January 17, 2025.

Our sources at Mega Millions and the Texas Lottery have both confirmed that a single ticket sold for Saturday's drawing matched all the numbers needed to claim the top prize of $113 million for the annuitized jackpot.

If the holder of the winning ticket opted for the cash payout they'd be getting $50.4 million. Naturally, all of those numbers are before the IRS and other taxing entities get involved and you know they will. Sadly, we can't report that Saturday's jackpot win was a big win for a Texas ticket. The big-money winner was sold in Arizona.

Mega Millions Jackpot
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We have also confirmed that two tickets sold for last night, one in Florida and the other in Michigan, earned a one million dollar prize for matching all five of the white balls but not the Mega Ball. Speaking of the numbers, here they are if you missed seeing them in the video of last night's drawing above.

08   10   37   54   69   Mega Ball 22   Megaplier x3

If you feel as if your ticket is a winner in one of the many number match scenarios that payback on Mega Millions you'll want to verify that ticket at the Official Texas Lottery Website or the Official Mega Millions Website. Those are the sites of record and also have additional prize redemption information that can make getting your money or other prizes even easier to claim.

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The largest prize we saw won on a Texas-sold ticket was $10,000. Which is a nice prize but only one ticket sold in the state earned that prize. However, some 38,000-plus other tickets sold for Friday's drawing returned money to their purchaser. About one third of those tickets opted for the Megaplier function that the Mega Millions game offers.

So, $10,000 was the largest single-ticket win in Friday's Mega Millions in Texas. 

That just means more good luck for Saturday night, right? Tonight's Powerball as we've mentioned is $331 million for the estimated annuitized jackpot amount. Lotto Texas with Extra! is continues to grow too. That game will draw for $69.25 million which will make that game's jackpot larger than the next Mega Millions prize that will draw on Tuesday night.

Two Multi-State Lotteries Each Offer Over $400 Jackpots
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Please remember that all lottery games involve the risk of losing money. If you can't afford to lose your money then you shouldn't play. If that desire overrides your ability to self-police your actions you might need help. If you feel you do, call 1-800-GAMBLER, the call and the counselling are free. Good Luck.

LOOK: The largest lottery jackpots in US history

Stacker compiled a list of the 15 largest lottery jackpots in U.S. history from news reports and lottery press releases. [This list is current as of July 25, 2023.]

Gallery Credit: Chandler Friedman

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