
Mega Millions Jackpot climbs to $1 billion ahead of Christmas Eve drawing
CNN
A lucky Mega Millions player might be in store for a $1 billion Christmas present this year.
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.

Traffic through the strait, normally the conduit for a fifth of global oil output, has been severely curtailed since the start of the Iran conflict. But Iran itself is shipping oil through the waterway in almost the same volumes as before the war, earning the cash needed to sustain its economy and war effort.












