CNN
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This Christmas Eve, one lucky lottery ticket could celebrate with a Mega Millions jackpot of nearly $1 billion – the largest prize ever awarded in December.

Because no one won Friday’s jackpot, the top prize in Tuesday’s drawing rose from $862 million to $944 million, according to the lottery. A jackpot winner in Tuesday’s drawing could choose to receive the money in annual payments or receive a lump sum, estimated at $429.4 million.

Friday’s winning numbers were: 2, 20, 51, 56, 67 and Mega Ball 19.

Even though no ticket had all six numbers in Friday night’s drawing, five tickets still won $1 million each if the first five numbers were matched. According to the Mega Millions website, these tickets were sold in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania.

The holiday drawing is part of what the Mega Millions organization is calling the “most unusual jackpot year.” Since Mega Millions began in 2002, there has not been a single year in which all jackpots won were among the top ten prizes awarded at the time.

In March, a New Jersey Mega Millions ticket holder won a whopping $1.13 billion prize. In June, an anonymous player in Illinois took home $552 million after entering the winning numbers on an online lottery purchase. And in September, a Houston-area resident claimed an $800 million Mega Millions jackpot, a month after purchasing the winning ticket at a Sugar Land gas station convenience store.

Historically, December has been a pretty lucky month for Mega Millions players, with 13 jackpots won over the holiday season. However, according to Mega Millions, the jackpot was only won once on Christmas Eve.

Overall, the odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are approximately 1 in 302.5 million.

“We tend to see an increase in sales during the holidays,” Joshua Johnston, executive director of the Mega Millions Consortium, told CNN, adding that the increase in ticket sales occurs when people are out and about shopping.

“There’s really no product on the market for two dollars that gives you the opportunity over the course of a few days to just imagine and dream what it would be like to win that amount of money,” he said. “And it’s just so fun to think about, especially around the holidays when there’s already a hint of magic in the air.”