Michael Huber 
CNN
—
A lucky Mega Millions player might be in store for a $1 billion Christmas present this year.
The jackpot hit an estimated $1 billion ahead of Tuesday’s Christmas Eve drawing, Mega Millions announced. That’s a $448.8 million cash prize.
It’s just the seventh time in the game’s 20-year history that the jackpot has soared past $1 billion, the lottery said.
“The dream of that sum of money is just so much fun to think about, especially around the holidays, when there’s already a sense of magic in the air. Can you imagine going to bed and then waking up on December 25, checking your ticket and realizing you just won a $1 billion jackpot?” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement.
A Houston-area resident claimed the last jackpot, $810 million, after purchasing the winning ticket at a gas station convenience store in Sugar Land.
Tickets cost $2, and the chances of winning the jackpot are approximately 1 in 302.5 million.
Next year, a shot at the jackpot will be a little more expensive. Starting April 2025, tickets will cost $5 per play, Mega Millions announced this October, along with a spate of “enhancements,” including improved odds, more frequent and larger jackpots and bigger starting jackpots.
It’s the second time the lottery has raised its ticket price since the game started in 2002, according to Mega Millions.
Mega Millions tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands, with drawings at 11 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia.
CNN’s Dalia Faheid and Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report.
