DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The jackpot for the Mega Millions lottery game has grown to nearly $1 billion ahead of Friday night’s drawing after more than four months without a winner. That record drought is thanks to bad luck, poor odds and reduced play partially blamed on the coronavirus pandemic. It’s only the third time a lottery jackpot has grown so large, but much has changed since the last time such a big prize was up for grabs in 2018. And even as the huge Mega Millions prize and a $731.1 million Powerball jackpot won Wednesday by a single ticket sold in Maryland have juiced sales for the games, Maryland lottery director Gordon Medenica noted: “We’re not out of the wood yet.”
Photo: New York Lotto slips are displayed on a rack along with Mega Millions and Powerball slips at the Lasting Impression shop at the Empire State Plaza on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo)
