Californians are once again testing their luck on Friday, Dec. 27, as they try to score the Mega Millions jackpot that continues reaching record highs. Friday night’s drawing comes after no ticket matched of all six numbers pulled on Christmas Eve — pushing the jackpot to a staggering $1.2 billion. “That’s indicative of strong sales, which is no surprise,” California Lottery spokesperson Carolyn Becker said in a Friday phone interview. “The higher it gets, more people play. People who don’t otherwise play often will come out and buy tickets when it’s a billion dollars like this.” If a California Lottery player wins the estimated jackpot, it will be the largest Mega Millions prize ever won in the Golden State, according to a press release. “We actually haven’t seen a billion dollar jackpot in quite some time in California; nobody has ever won a Mega Millions jackpot this high,” Becker said. “If somebody here hits the big one tonight, or if it keeps rolling and somebody in California hits it later, then it would be certainly a record for us.” The drawing for the $1.2 billion estimated jackpot will be at 8 p.m. Friday. Mega-Millions fever hit on Friday as the prize money rose to 1.22 billion dollars. Blue Bird Liquor in Hawthorne known for selling winning tickets was crowded as people lined up in the rain hoping to hit the jackpot. Blue Bird employee Maggie Juran hands over mega tickets to Hawthorne resident Javier Gonzales. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer) Mega-Millions fever hit on Friday as the prize money rose to 1.22 billion dollars. Blue Bird Liquor in Hawthorne known for selling winning tickets was crowded as people lined up in the rain hoping to hit the jackpot. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer) Mega-Millions fever hit on Friday as the prize money rose to 1.22 billion dollars. Blue Bird Liquor in Hawthorne known for selling winning tickets was crowded as people lined up in the rain hoping to hit the jackpot. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer) Mega-Millions fever hit on Friday as the prize money rose to 1.22 billion dollars. Blue Bird Liquor in Hawthorne known for selling winning tickets was crowded as people lined up in the rain hoping to hit the jackpot. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer) Mega-Millions fever hit on Friday as the prize money rose to 1.22 billion dollars. Blue Bird Liquor in Hawthorne known for selling winning tickets was crowded as people lined up in the rain hoping to hit the jackpot. Blue Bird Employee Maggie Juran sells lotto tickets Friday morning Dec. 27, 2024. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer) Mega-Millions fever hit on Friday as the prize money rose to 1.22 billion dollars. Blue Bird Liquor in Hawthorne known for selling winning tickets was crowded as people lined up in the rain hoping to hit the jackpot. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer) Mega-Millions fever hit on Friday as the prize money rose to 1.22 billion dollars. Blue Bird Liquor in Hawthorne known for selling winning tickets was crowded as people lined up in the rain hoping to hit the jackpot. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer) Mega-Millions fever hit on Friday as the prize money rose to 1.22 billion dollars. Blue Bird Liquor in Hawthorne known for selling winning tickets was crowded as people lined up in the rain hoping to hit the jackpot. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer) Mega-Millions fever hit on Friday as the prize money rose to 1.22 billion dollars. Blue Bird Liquor in Hawthorne known for selling winning tickets was crowded as people lined up in the rain hoping to hit the jackpot. Blue Bird employee Maggie Juran rubs a customers tickets on the lucky blue bird by the register.(Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer) Show Caption1 of 9Mega-Millions fever hit on Friday as the prize money rose to 1.22 billion dollars. Blue Bird Liquor in Hawthorne known for selling winning tickets was crowded as people lined up in the rain hoping to hit the jackpot. Blue Bird employee Maggie Juran hands over mega tickets to Hawthorne resident Javier Gonzales. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer) Expand Across Southern California, people got up early to get their lottery tickets. The Bluebird Liquor Store, in Hawthone, had a line outside its door of about 40 people on the rainy Friday morning. People started lining up at around 5 a.m., two hours before the store opened, said Bluebird employee Maggie Juran. Folks tend to flock to Bluebird to buy lottery tickets because it has a reputation of being a lucky store. It has previously sold multiple winning Powerball and Mega Millions tickets. Hawthorne resident Javier Gonzalez said he always goes to Bluebird because “it’s just a place of luck.” Digital lottery signs in convenience store windows in Orange County, meanwhile, showed triple nines for how much the Mega Millions lottery was at. At a 7-Eleven convenience store in Costa Mesa, a manager said they had seen more customers than usual coming into purchase Mega Millions lottery tickets. It usually gets even busier the closer it gets to draw time, he said. The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are not great, to say the least — at about 1 in 302,575,350. The odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24, according to lottery officials. Mega Millions tickets are $2 a piece, and for every ticket sold in California, about 80 cents goes to support public education, Becker said. “When jackpots get this high, and sales continue to grow strong and more people play, public education is already winning,” she said. “From sales in California related to this jackpot tonight, which has been rolling for over three months now, the California Lottery has already raised $78.8 million estimated for public schools.” There has never been a Mega Millions jackpot this high in the month of December, lottery officials said; many were expecting a winner on Christmas Eve. But instead of a Christmas miracle — one lucky player may get their new year started in the best way imaginable. “Most people would love to bring in the new year with an extra billion dollars,” Becker said. “We’ll see if it rolls over tonight and keeps going for New Year’s Eve, which would be the last draw of 2024 or if we take this into 2025, we’ll find out.” The Mega Millions jackpot results will be posted online after the drawing on Friday evening. Staff writer Michael Slaten and freelance photographer Chuck Bennett contributed to this report. Related Articles News | Jackpot for Mega Millions surges past $1B after no numbers match on Christmas Eve drawing News | Mega Millions lottery now worth a cool Mega billion News | Artesia seafood market sells $47M SuperLotto Plus winning ticket; Ontario ticket gets close News | Mega Millions tickets will climb to $5, but officials promise bigger prizes and better odds