New Jersey Mega Millions ticket wins $3M, next jackpot $575M

A New Jersey Mega Millions ticket that matched five of the six winning numbers but missed the Mega Ball won a $3 million prize in Tuesday's drawing, lottery officials said, while two California tickets that also matched five numbers collected smaller prizes. The drawing was held Tuesday, Oct. 7, and no ticket won the grand prize.

The New Jersey ticket carried a 3x multiplier, which tripled its base prize to $3 million, officials said. The California Lottery said two tickets there that matched the five white balls received roughly $240,000 and $300,000 after the state’s prize-adjustment rules were applied. All three tickets matched the five white balls 17, 26, 33, 45 and 56; the Mega Ball was 19.

Because no one matched all six numbers, the jackpot for the next drawing on Friday has risen to an estimated $575 million, with a reported cash option of about $264.6 million. More than 360,000 other tickets nationwide won prizes ranging from $10 to $50,000 in Tuesday’s drawing, according to lottery officials.

Mega Millions requires players to match all five white balls plus the gold Mega Ball to claim the jackpot. The overall odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 290,472,336. Tickets are...