Mega Millions Winning Numbers for Aug. 26, 2016; Live Results for the $76 Million Pot, Schedule
Update – August 26, 2016 – 11:00 p.m. ET: The winning numbers for Friday's Mega Millions jackpot are 10, 11, 31, 41, 44 and the megaball is 14. The multiplier is 2x.
A grand total of $76-million is now up for grabs for the Mega Millions jackpot prize for Friday, Aug. 26 with a one-time cash-out option at $52-million after taxes and other deductions.
The pot continues to grow as no one won the Mega Millions jackpot prize last Tuesday. Winning numbers were 2, 7, 46, 61, 66. The gold ball was 1 and the multiplier was 2x. The next Mega Millions drawing will be on Aug. 30, Tuesday, at 11 p.m. ET.
Recap of last Tuesday's Mega Millions Drawing
The estimated pot prize last Tuesday was $69-million with a cash-out option of $47-million. While no one successfully brought the grand prize home, two players were able to match all five white balls to win $1-million each. These winning tickets were apparently bought from Florida and New York, according to the Mega Millions website.
However, both winning tickets opted out of playing the Megaplier which would have doubled their winnings to $2-million. 19 other players matched four white balls plus the Megaball for $5,000 each, two out of the 19 players opted for the Megaplier and doubled their winnings to $10,000.
222 players matched four white balls for $500 each, 1,281 for three whites and the Megaball for $5 each, and 401,548 for one white and the Megaball for $2 each.
How to play the Mega Millions
Mega Million drawings are done bi-weekly every Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. ET. To join, players must submit five numbers from 1 to 75 and one number for the Megaball from 1 to 15. They win by matching the numbers on one row of their ticket to the numbers of the balls drawn on that date.
Each Mega Millions ticket costs $1 while the Megaplier option, which multiplies the player's winnings save for the jackpot, costs just $1 more. Each player has nine ways to win; from matching the five white balls and the yellow ball, to just matching the yellow ball.
Should someone win the Mega Millions jackpot, the game will reset back its prize to $15-million and will grow by $5-million after each drawing where no one wins the grand pot. It's been more than a month since someone won the grand prize. The last winning draw was last July 23, 2016 at $15-million.
The odds of bringing home the jackpot is one in 259 million, while the odds of winning any prize is at 1 in 15. The lottery is played in 44 states, including the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands.