lottery

Most states do not currently grant anonymity to lottery winners. Some lawmakers have tried to change that in recent years out of growing privacy and safety concerns.

There was one winning ticket in the draw, and it was bought in Illinois. The jackpot was the nation's third-largest lottery prize. Earlier, officials had estimated the winning take at $1.28 billion.

No one won the Mega Millions jackpot on Tuesday and now it's more than $1 billion. If you've never played before, here are some things to know about how it works.

A $1.1 billion lottery prize will be on the line Friday night as numbers are drawn for the Mega Millions game. The last time someone hit the Mega Millions jackpot was April 15.

This jackpot could be the third largest in Mega Millions history. The drawing is at 11 p.m. ET Tuesday, so there's still time to buy a ticket or two, if these are odds that you want to take.

The jackpot — which started at $20 million in April — has grown so large because there hasn't been a winner in three months.

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. But it never hurts to be prepared.

LaQuedra Edwards had put $40 into a lottery vending machine at a supermarket in Los Angeles when "some rude person" bumped into her, causing her to buy a different lottery ticket than she intended.

The North Carolina man turned his meal at an Asian restaurant into a Mega Millions jackpot when his cookies turned out to be extra fortunate.

It's the third-largest lotto jackpot in U.S. history. The odds of winning the top prize were 1 in 302.5 million.