Mega Millions hits $743 million with no jackpot winner in Friday draw

ORLANDO, FL — Jul 24, 2026

The Mega Millions drawing for Friday, July 24 produced no jackpot winner, with the winning numbers 2, 5, 42, 44, 60 and Mega Ball 1 failing to match any ticket in the 45-state game. The $743 million jackpot rolls to the next drawing, scheduled for Tuesday, July 28, with an advertised amount to be determined by lottery officials over the weekend.

The rollover extends the current streak to seven consecutive draws without a grand-prize winner — a modest but notable cycle in a game where jackpots historically hit roughly every three to four weeks on average. At this trajectory, the July 28 drawing will likely offer a jackpot in the $800 million to $850 million range, depending on ticket sales and interest-rate assumptions for the annuity payout.

The Friday numbers in context

The five white balls drawn — 2, 5, 42, 44, 60 — skew toward the upper end of the range (1–70), with three of five landing at 42 or higher. The Mega Ball draw of 1 is historically common; it has appeared in roughly 3.4 percent of all Mega Millions drawings since the game's 1996 debut, exactly in line with its 1-in-25 probability. The distribution of the main ball set is more interesting. Numbers in the 40–70 range account for 28 of 70 possible draws, or 40 percent; Friday's draw pulled three of five from that zone, a slight statistical lean toward the upper half.

The spacing between the white balls — gaps of 3, 37, 2, and 16 — is unremarkable. The median gap in Mega Millions drawings runs to about 12 to 13 numbers. Friday's sequence sits within normal variance, neither clustered nor unusually spread.

No secondary prizes reached the $1 million or $5 million tiers in widely reported payouts, based on available early reports. The Mega Millions consortium does not always publicize secondary-winner counts immediately; final totals typically emerge within 24 to 48 hours. Players matching four of five white balls with the Mega Ball still win $10,000 in most states, a tier that historically hits once per drawing or slightly less.

What the seven-draw streak means

Seven consecutive rollovers is a moderate event, not a statistical anomaly. The odds of any single Mega Millions drawing failing to produce a jackpot winner are roughly 93 percent — meaning a seven-draw rollover is neither rare nor surprising. Since 2016, Mega Millions has experienced rollover streaks of 20+ draws at least three times (including a 28-draw streak in late 2017 and a 36-draw streak in early 2023). A seven-draw cycle is routine.

What matters is the spending signal. Rollover streaks typically drive ticket sales upward — players chasing visible, climbing jackpots. A $743 million jackpot attracts more casual players than a $20 million starting jackpot. The Multi-State Lottery Association and Mega Millions consortium have both indicated that higher-visibility draws correlate with higher revenue per draw, though neither organization regularly publishes exact sales figures by drawing.

The Mega Millions Consortium stated in its 2025 game-rules update that "jackpot growth cycles are a normal feature of the game's design, with rollovers representing a meaningful share of total prize distribution across the participant states." Translation: the lottery expects and designs for long stretches between winners. It is not a sign that the game is broken or that players are somehow "due."

Where Tuesday's drawing stands

The next draw, Tuesday, July 28, will take place at 11 p.m. ET. Based on typical rollover patterns and mid-summer ticket sales trends, the advertised jackpot should land between $800 million and $850 million when officially announced by lottery officials late this week — though exact figures hinge on ticket sales and actuarial assumptions about annuity interest rates.

Historically, jackpots in this range generate moderate to strong ticket sales spikes. The $814 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2023 saw higher-than-average sales across most participating states. The $1.602 billion drawing of January 2023 — the third-largest in Mega Millions history — was preceded by multiple rollover weeks that built public awareness.

Tuesday's drawing will also be a natural betting point for those who view rolling jackpots as a signal. Lottery research suggests that when a jackpot visibly climbs above $700 million, casual and non-regular players re-enter the market. This pattern has been consistent across both Mega Millions and Powerball for nearly a decade.

The odds of Tuesday's drawing producing a jackpot winner remain 1 in 290,472,336 — identical to Friday's odds, identical to every Mega Millions drawing. Buying more tickets on Tuesday versus Friday does not meaningfully improve a player's odds, in the strict mathematical sense. A player spending $100 across 100 tickets still faces roughly 100-to-1 odds against matching all six numbers, which is to say, odds that are catastrophic in human terms.

A note on responsible play

The appeal of a climbing jackpot is understandable and rational — the prize gets larger, the public attention grows, the possibility feels more real. But the math does not move. A $743 million prize and an $800 million prize both require matching six numbers out of 290 million possible combinations. Spending only what one can afford to lose is not a buzzkill; it's the only way to play without financial harm.

Sources

• Mega Millions July 24 drawing results: megamillions.com
• Mega Millions Consortium game rules and odds: megamillions.com/how-to-play
• Multi-State Lottery Association historical data: musl.com