A single Mega Millions ticket purchased in Georgia claimed the $980 million jackpot in Friday’s drawing, marking the game’s fifth top prize of 2025 and its largest November win on record. The winning numbers drawn Nov. 14 were the white balls 1, 8, 11, 12 and 57, with Mega Ball 7, ending a 40-drawing streak without a jackpot winner — the longest in the lottery’s history.
The cash option for the annuity prize stands at $452.2 million before taxes. Georgia Lottery officials confirmed the ticket was sold in Newnan, about 35 miles southwest of Atlanta, at a retail location yet to be specified publicly. As one of the game’s 45 participating jurisdictions since its 1996 launch, Georgia now holds the record for its biggest Mega Millions payout, surpassing the $648 million shared jackpot from December 2013. The state’s previous top win came in November 2016, a $521.7 million prize split three ways.
“$980 million is the largest jackpot that’s been won since the Mega Millions game changed back in April,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement. “Congratulations to our big winner from Georgia and to all our players who are winning more than ever with this new version of the game.”
The overhaul, effective April 8, 2025, introduced several enhancements to boost player appeal and prize potential. Ticket prices rose from $2 to $5 per play, eliminating the separate $1 Megaplier add-on in favor of a built-in multiplier ranging from 2X to 10X on non-jackpot prizes. Starting jackpots increased to $50 million from $20 million, with faster growth rates ensuring quicker climbs to nine figures. Odds of hitting the jackpot improved slightly to 1 in 290.5 million from 1 in 302.6 million, thanks to expanding the Mega Ball pool to 24 numbers from 25 while keeping the five white balls drawn from 1 to 70. These tweaks have led to more frequent large jackpots and higher overall payouts, with non-jackpot prizes averaging 50 percent larger across tiers.
During the 40 drawings from June 28 — following a $348 million win in Virginia on June 27 — players purchased enough tickets to generate nearly 14.3 million winners at all levels, claiming $343.4 million in non-jackpot prizes. That run produced 21 second-tier prizes of $2 million or more, with winners in 14 states including Arizona, California and Texas. Third-tier awards, for matching four white balls plus the Mega Ball, totaled 347 prizes ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 across 40 jurisdictions from Alaska to Wyoming.
Friday’s drawing alone yielded 1,112,941 winning tickets beyond the jackpot, plus one second-tier $3 million prize in Michigan boosted by the 3X multiplier. The 48 third-tier winners included varied multipliers: 22 at 2X, 17 at 3X (with two each in Georgia and Maryland), seven at 4X and two at 10X in New York and Pennsylvania. Prizes in California adjust under state pari-mutuel rules, which pool funds based on sales volume rather than fixed amounts.
This victory ranks as the eighth-largest Mega Millions jackpot ever, trailing records like the $1.602 billion won in Florida on Aug. 8, 2023, and the $1.537 billion claimed in South Carolina on Oct. 23, 2018. Earlier 2025 jackpots included $349 million in Illinois on March 25, $112 million in Ohio on April 18, $112 million in Arizona on Jan. 17 and the Virginia draw in June. The previous record holder, $1.269 billion in California last December, marked the fourth billion-dollar prize since 2018.
The next drawing Tuesday, Nov. 18, resets to $50 million with a $23.1 million cash value, primed for rapid escalation under the updated growth formula adding at least $10 million per draw, or more based on sales. Tickets remain $5 nationwide, available until 10 p.m. local time on draw days at retailers or online in select states.
