• The Mega Millions jackpot climbed to $1 billion ahead of the Christmas Eve drawing.
• If someone wins on Tuesday, they will receive the seventh-largest prize in the game’s history.
• According to the Mega Millions website, the lump sum cash option is approximately $448.8 million.

One lucky lottery player could wake up to a billion-dollar Christmas morning this year.

According to the Mega Millions website, the Mega Millions jackpot reached an estimated $1 billion on Tuesday ahead of the Christmas Eve drawing.

If someone hits a six-figure winning ticket on Tuesday, the jackpot would be the largest jackpot ever won in December and the seventh largest in the game’s history.

According to the Mega Millions website, choosing the lump sum cash option would cut the prize money in half to approximately $448.8 million. Winners can also opt for annual payments over time. Mega Millions winnings are subject to state and federal income taxes.

No one has won the jackpot since September, when a Texan bagged $810 million. The pot has continued to rise over the last 29 draws.

Recent years have seen several of the largest lottery jackpots of all time.

A California man won a whopping $2.04 billion Powerball prize in 2022 – the largest lottery prize ever. Earlier this year, another California man won a $1.7 billion Powerball prize.

Last year’s biggest Mega Millions prize went to a winner from Florida who won a jackpot of $1.6 billion.

According to the lottery website, the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are approximately one in 302,575,350.

If someone wins on Tuesday, they wouldn’t be the first winner of the Christmas Eve Mega Millions. A jackpot of $68 million was won in 2022, but no one has ever claimed the prize, ABC News reported.