Mega Millions Jackpot Is $482 Million for Tuesday Night — Election Day's Other Big Number
Two drawings bookend the vote: Powerball's $793 million on Monday, and Mega Millions' $482 million at 11 p.m. Tuesday, two hours after New York's polls close. Friday's numbers were 5, 10, 38, 49, 68 — Mega Ball 17.
New Yorkers checking results this weekend have two jackpots to track, and the second one lands on Election Day. Mega Millions stands at an estimated $482 million, with a cash option of $203.6 million, for its next drawing on Tuesday, November 3 at 11 p.m. Eastern — two hours after the city's polls close — according to the game's official site.
Friday night's drawing produced no jackpot winner. The winning numbers for October 30 were 5, 10, 38, 49 and 68, with a Mega Ball of 17. Two tickets matched all five white balls for $1 million prizes, one of them carrying a Megaplier worth $4 million, the game's winners table shows. The jackpot has now been building since July 28, when a ticket sold in Florida won an $800 million prize.
The timing gives the city a strange double-header. Powerball draws its estimated $793 million jackpot on Monday night at 10:59 p.m. — a drawing this station filed on Saturday — and Mega Millions follows on Tuesday night, on the same evening the midterm results are called. A ticket bought alongside a Tuesday newspaper run is, for once, not even the biggest gamble of the day; it is just the one with published odds and a set drawing time.
Mega Millions is sold by the New York Lottery across the five boroughs and draws every Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. Players should buy from a licensed retailer and check the official results after the drawing — this desk will file Tuesday night's numbers when the game publishes them. The annuity prize is paid over time and the cash option is the lump sum, both before taxes, as with every jackpot the desk reports.
