Mega Millions soars to $144M

ATLANTA – Mega Millions continues to grow with the jackpot for Friday's drawing at an estimated $144 million to a single annuity winner. It’s the most fun $1 can buy.

And the news just keeps getting bigger with the large jackpot game Powerball coming to Georgia. Georgians will have more chances to win even more with four big jackpots per week.

Powerball tickets go on sale in Georgia on Jan. 31. The first Powerball drawing in Georgia will be held Feb. 3.

Mega Millions drawings will continue to be held on Tuesday and Fridays. Powerball drawings will be held on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

With Friday's Mega Millions drawing, any lucky player who matches all five white ball numbers, along with the Mega Ball number, could walk away with approximately $5.5 million a year (before taxes) for 26 years with the annuity option. Or a player could select the cash option and win a single check worth approximately $89 million (before taxes).

Any Georgia Lottery retailer who sells a winning Mega Millions jackpot ticket can earn the $25,000 retailer incentive bonus payment. If more than one winning jackpot ticket is sold in Georgia, the retailers selling the winning tickets will share the $25,000 retailer incentive bonus.

As with all other Georgia Lottery games, proceeds from Mega Millions will benefit education in the state of Georgia.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corporation has returned more than $11.4 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs including Georgia's HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia's Pre-K Program. More than 1.2 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.