Mega Millions Jackpot Nears $680M Ninth Largest Prize

The Mega Millions jackpot has reached an estimated $680 million for the upcoming October 24 drawing, marking the ninth largest jackpot in the game's history after no ticket matched all six numbers in the October 21 drawing. The winning numbers for October 21 were 2, 18, 27, 34, 59, and Mega Ball 18, with nearly 437,000 winning tickets nationwide sharing about $12 million in prizes. Notably, a New Jersey ticket won $100,000 with a 10x multiplier, while an Illinois ticket won $3 million by matching five white balls with a 3x multiplier. The jackpot's cash option stands at $318.2 million, and the last jackpot was won in Virginia in June for $348 million. With 33 drawings since the last jackpot win, the prize pool has produced over 9.5 million winning tickets and more than $229 million in payouts. Mega Millions tickets cost $5 and include a built-in multiplier feature that increases non-jackpot prizes up to 10 times.