Texans buy Mega Millions lottery tickets after jackpot soars over $1B

AUSTIN, Texas - Texans are running out to buy their Mega Millions tickets after no winning ticket was drawn for the jackpot on Tuesday night. The big prize is now up to more than a billion dollars.

"You play the lottery every day?" FOX 7 reporter Meredith Aldis asked Jake Utterback.

"Every week, same numbers," Utterback responded.

"Have you ever won?" Aldis asked.

"A little here and there, but nothing, nothing great," Utterback replied.

Utterback could win something really great Friday night. The Mega Millions Jackpot was up to $1.22 billion.

"Billion with a B," Texas Lottery Commission Media Relations Division Director Steve Helm said. "It would be the largest jackpot of 2024. It is also currently the fifth largest in the game’s history."

If there is one winner, and they choose the cash option, they’d bring home a whopping $549 million.

"We’re living it up," lottery player Sal Capone said.

No one hit the jackpot in the Christmas Eve drawing, so that means more ticket buying and more dreaming.

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"A Lamborghini Urus," Zane Allmon said.

"I’d get a Lambo and a mansion," Capone said.

It only takes one ticket to win, but there are slim odds, 1 in 302,000,000.

"That's why I don't play because I know I'm never going to win," Capone said.

Texas Lottery players seem to have more luck.

"Two of the last five Mega Millions jackpot wins have happened right here in Texas, dating back to October 2023," Helm said.

"Bought my ticket in Missouri and I bought my ticket down here in Austin as well," Utterback said.

The drawing is on Friday, Dec. 27, at 10 p.m. CT.