CNN
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What better way to start the new year than with a ten-figure lottery ticket?

Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot is $1.15 billion, or $516.1 million in cash. The prize has increased since the last drawing on Christmas Eve, when no winner took home the estimated $1 billion jackpot.

If won on Friday, the prize would be the fifth largest jackpot in the game’s history.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as Christmas gifts, and what a gift that would be to end up with a ticket worth $1.15 billion,” said Joshua Johnston, executive Director of the Mega Millions Consortium in a press release.

While Friday offers a chance for another 2024 Mega Millions winner, no one has won the jackpot in over 100 days.

According to the company, this year saw one of the fewest jackpot wins since the game began in 2002. Only three people won this year.

Ten jackpots were awarded in 2023. Since the start of the game, 217 jackpots have been won with 244 individual tickets.

According to the Mega Millions website, the odds of winning a prize in the lottery game are 1 in 24, but the odds of winning a jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.

The largest amount ever won came last year, with a single Florida ticket bringing in a prize of $1.602 billion.

Researchers have raised concerns that not only are the odds of winning the Mega Millions slim, but that state lotteries are also siphoning off funds impoverished communities under the guise of an opportunity to achieve prosperity.

A study by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found that stores selling lottery tickets were disproportionately located in impoverished communities in every state in 2022, with proceeds going to far-flung colleges and wealthy school districts rather than to their community.

According to the company’s press release, half of the proceeds from each lottery ticket remain in the state where the lottery ticket was sold to support “charitable causes and dealer commissions.”

In 2022, the Howard Center study found that ticket sales had increased from $47 billion to $82 billion, generating more revenue than corporate taxes in ten states.

Tickets cost $2, with players in most countries given the option to pay an additional $1 to multiply their non-jackpot prizes. The company announced in October that it would more than double the price in April 2025, promising higher prices in return. Each ticket costs $5.

Winning jackpot numbers are announced every Tuesday and Friday at 11:00 p.m. ET on the Mega Millions website. Friday’s winning numbers will be posted on the website shortly after the evening draw.