$1 Billion Mega Millions Jackpot Drives up Lottery Ticket Sales

A growing Mega Millions jackpot, estimated at $1 billion is getting people excited about the lottery.

You are only six numbers away from some life-changing winnings. This is actually the second largest jackpot behind the 1.5 billion jackpot from the drawing from January 2016.

Here are some stats from the Texas Lottery Commission.

Cumulative Mega Millions draw sales in Texas (for this roll) for today up to the 1 p.m. hour are $17,766,542.

• From noon to 12:59 p.m. today, Texas had $1,717,196 in Mega Millions sales.
• This represents cumulative growth of 420.5% over last Friday at the same hourly time period.
• This represents cumulative growth of 254.3% over yesterday at the same hourly time period.
• Current hourly Mega Millions sales per minute in Texas are $28,620.

The prize has gotten so large because of no winners since July when a group in California won a $543 million jackpot.

If you are curious they cash payout would be a measly $565 million. The drawing is tonight at 10 PM so go get those tickets.