Mega Millions Suspends Prize Payments After Host Says Wrong Number
By Jason Hall
May 12, 2022
Mega Millions has temporarily suspended prize payments for Tuesday's (May 9) lottery drawing after host John Crow incorrectly read the Mega Ball number during the live drawing.
The lottery game confirmed the five white ball numbers -- 15, 19, 20, 61 and 70 -- were all correct, however, Crow mistakenly called out the number nine instead of six, which was identified by a line under the digit.
"The 9 ball was drawn in the chamber and is the official result," the caption of a video explaining the mishap on Mega Millions' YouTube channel states, adding the correct results have been audited by the accounting firm Preston CPA. "We apologize for the confusion."
The Mega Millions jackpot will rollover to $99 million ($57.0 million cash value) on Friday (May 13) if zero players still haven't matched all six numbers from the $86 million drawing on Tuesday night.
Results from Tuesday's Mega Millions game are listed below:
NUMBERS: 15-19-20-61-70
GOLD BALL: 6
MEGAPLIER: 3x
Last month, the Mega Millions jackpot reset twice after players matched all six numbers during back-to-back drawings on April 11 and April 15.
The Mega Millions and Powerball games offered a combined jackpot of more than $1.7 billion last year.
Mega Millions' jackpot reached $1.05 billion, with a cash option of $776.6 million on Friday, January 22, 2021, before a player in Michigan matched all six numbers. The jackpot was the second largest cash value ticket in lottery history.
Powerball's jackpot reached $731.1 million, with a cash option worth $546.8 million on Wednesday, January 20 2021, before a player in Maryland matched all six numbers. The jackpot was the third largest cash value for a single ticket in lottery history and the fourth largest in Powerball history.
Both jackpots increase during each following game until there's a winning ticket matching all six numbers drawn, which includes the additional Mega Millions "gold ball" or Powerball in each respective game.
The Mega Millions jackpot has exceeded the billion mark twice in its existence. In October 2018, a ticket was sold in South Carolina winning $1.537 billion ($878 million cash value), which is the world's largest jackpot for a single ticket and the largest cash value for a single ticket.