--- description: The Mega Millions jackpot grew from a $348 million prize after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Dec. 28th title: 8th Largest Mega Millions Jackpot in History Up for Grabs on New Year's Day image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83248f3d9ee67f18/6989426d929fad73c9bf26a9/lottery-mega-millions-January.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Lottery](/tag/lottery/) ## Lottery Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 8th Largest Mega Millions Jackpot in History Up for Grabs on New Year's Day  by [Alejandro de la Garza](/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 30, 2018 9:24 PM CUT  A man shows his just purchased lottery tickets in Hawthorne, California on October 23, 2018 A man shows his just purchased lottery tickets in Hawthorne, California on October 23, 2018Getty Images  by [Alejandro de la Garza](/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 30, 2018 9:24 PM CUT In a potentially lucrative start to the year for America’s lottery players, the [Mega Millions jackpot](http://time.com/money/5430896/mega-millions-jackpot-taxes/ "undefined") climbed to $415 million in a drawing set to take place on New Year’s Day Tuesday. The prize will be the [eighth-largest jackpot](https://www.megamillions.com/News/2018/Mega-Millions-Starts-With-a-Bang-on-New-Year%E2%80%99s-Day.aspx "undefined") in Mega Millions history. The jackpot grew from a $348 million prize after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn last Friday. [Mega Millions is available to people in 44 states](https://www.megamillions.com/Where-to-Play.aspx "undefined"), as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Ticket are not for sale in Nevada, Utah, Mississippi, Alabama, Alaska, and Hawaii. January’s massive prize comes on the heels of this year’s lottery fever, with a [$1.537 billion prize](http://time.com/money/5431071/how-to-buy-mega-millions-tickets-online/ "undefined"), the largest Mega Millions jackpot ever, drawn in October. One winning ticket was sold for that drawing, but [the lucky South Carolina buyer still has not come forward](https://www.megamillions.com/News/2018/Mega-Millions-Starts-With-a-Bang-on-New-Year%E2%80%99s-Day.aspx "undefined"), Mega Millions confirmed in a press release. This past year also saw many of the other largest jackpots in Mega Millions history. In January, a Florida player took home a $451 million prize, and in March a New Jersey resident brought in $533 million. A ticket bought in California won a $543 million prize in July. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5490623/415-million-mega-millions-jackpot-new-years-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5490623/415-million-mega-millions-jackpot-new-years-day/"},"headline":"8th Largest Mega Millions Jackpot in History Up for Grabs on New Year's Day","datePublished":"2018-12-30T21:24:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:22:35.807Z","description":"The jackpot climbed to $415 million in a drawing set to take place Tuesday","url":"https://time.com/5490623/415-million-mega-millions-jackpot-new-years-day/","keywords":["Lottery","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83248f3d9ee67f18/6989426d929fad73c9bf26a9/lottery-mega-millions-January.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alejandro de la Garza","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83248f3d9ee67f18/6989426d929fad73c9bf26a9/lottery-mega-millions-January.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-LIFESTYLE-LOTTERY","caption":"US-LIFESTYLE-LOTTERY","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/lottery/","name":"Lottery"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5490623/415-million-mega-millions-jackpot-new-years-day/","name":"8th Largest Mega Millions Jackpot in History Up for Grabs on New Year's Day"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 States with the Most Mega Millions Jackpot Winners","description":"5 States with the Most Mega Millions Jackpot Winners","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/sBTQfpcd/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-08-23T16:03:35.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sBTQfpcd.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5490623/415-million-mega-millions-jackpot-new-years-day/","duration":"PT1M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5490623/415-million-mega-millions-jackpot-new-years-day/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```