Mega Millions is back in the big jackpot game thanks to some recent changes.
The annuity jackpot for Friday s drawing is up to $230 million the biggest amount in 20 months while the cash is up to $125 million.
Tuesday s drawing also produced the game s first ever $5 million winner on the heels of a $3 million winner on Friday larger amounts than any secondary prize in Powerball.
No one matched all the numbers drawn Tuesday night 27 44 59 74 and 75 with a Mega Ball of 3 but five tickets matched the first five.
A Texas ticket won $5 million for also having the $1 Megaplier prize multiplier option. Since the Megaplier came up 5 the usual $1 million prize was multiplied by 5. New York had two $1 million winners and Florida and Illinois had one apiece.
Friday night a North Carolina ticket won $3 million.
The maximum secondary prize in Powerball is an automatic $2 million for matching the first five while having the Power Play prize boosting option.
The Mega Millions jackpot could grow quickly for several reasons. The odds of winning were made much tougher in late October 1 chance in 259 million with a single ticket so it's much more likely to roll over. Powerball's jackpot is much smaller $60 milllion for tonight's drawing at twice the prize $2 per ticket so Mega Millions has a big edge at the moment.
Also the first five numbers now go as high as 75 in Mega Millions which means that people playing popular low numbers like dates months or children's ages are less likely to hit all their numbers than in the past.
And of course the bigger a jackpot gets the faster it grows.
Since early last year Powerball has had a decided advantage with a higher starting jackpot ($40 million vs. $12 million for Mega Millions then $15 million now) minimum boosts of $10 million for each rollover (now $5 million for Mega Million) and each ticket raising twice as much cash.
As a result since March 2012 when Mega Millions had a record jackpot of $656 million Powerball has dominated producing six jackpots worth more than $300 million two of them worth more than $580 million.
We may soon find if the competition is going to get even crazier.
For more information go to Philly.com's lottery page or the websites for Mega Millions or Powerball.
Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215 854 4342 or pmucha phillynews.com.
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