Mega Millions Friday night jackpot blasts into the $1 billion range.

The Mega Millions jackpot on Friday night will surpass the astounding $1 billion mark.

It will be the third time in Mega Millions 20-year history that the $1 billion plateau is reached, according to lottery officials. Friday night’s drawing will be the 13th drawing in the current run which began back on April 19, and the new grand prize is an estimated $1.025 billion ($602.5 million cash).

The Mega Millions record jackpot prize is $1.537 billion from Oct. 23, 2018, in South Carolina.

“We look with anticipation on the growing jackpot,” said Ohio Lottery Director Pat McDonald, current lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, in a news release. “Seeing the jackpot build over a period of months and reaching the billion-dollar mark is truly breathtaking. We encourage customers to keep play in balance and enjoy the ride. Someone is going to win.”

Friday’s prize, as currently estimated, is just shy of the $1.050 billion jackpot won in Michigan on January 22, 2021. With unprecedented traffic after the drawing – more than any in the history of megamillions.com – the Mega Millions website was down for more than two hours on Tuesday night, officials said.

Here’s some help with a small, fantasy wishlist should you hit the big prize:

• A mountain mansion. Last year, a 21,476-square-foot home in Aspen, with 11 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and four half-baths, sitting on over four-acres of land, sold for a cool $72.5 million.
• Luxurious sports car. Zip around in a $3.9 million 2021 Bugatti Chiron Super Sport, top speed 273 mph.
• Space tourism. In April, three people paid $55 million apiece to board SpaceX’s first private charter flight to the International Space Station. The rocket ride included accommodations, and all meals were included.
• Nonprofit or favorite organization. In 2019, Denver Public Schools received $10 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 303 million, according to lottery officials.

Colorado may be warming up for a big winner. On Wednesday, Jackpocket, a third-party app from which to order official state lottery tickets, announced its largest single winner to date in the state of Colorado. A Fort Collins woman won $1,362,575 on June 13 after ordering a Colorado Lotto+ ticket on the Jackpocket lottery app, according to a news release.

“We’re so proud to facilitate this life-changing win for Lisa, our biggest lottery winner to date in the state of Colorado,” said Jackpocket CEO Peter Sullivan. “Jackpocket was founded on the idea that the lottery should be accessible and convenient to play, and we are thrilled when we get to celebrate a major win like Lisa’s.”

Colorado lottery players can use Jackpocket’s mobile app to place ticket orders for Mega Millions, Powerball, Lucky for Life, Lotto+, Cash 5, and Pick 3. Since Jackpocket has been available in Colorado, players here have won more than $6.5 million to date on the app.

People with a gambling addiction are urged to call the National Council on Problem Gambling confidential 24-hour hotline: 800-522-4700.

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