The next Mega Millions drawing is on the next Tuesday or Friday night at 11:00 pm Eastern Time. Draws are held twice a week, every week of the year, at the game's studio in Atlanta, Georgia, and the winning numbers appear online within minutes. Sales deadlines arrive earlier — in some states only 15 minutes before the draw, in others an hour or more — and online orders need even more headroom.
Mega Millions drawing days: Tuesday and Friday
Mega Millions has kept the same two draw nights for years: Tuesday and Friday. There is always a drawing within three days — after Friday's draw the next is Tuesday, and after Tuesday's it is Friday. Holidays make no difference; if Christmas falls on a draw night, the machines still run. That cadence is deliberately offset from Powerball's Monday–Wednesday–Saturday schedule, which is why big-jackpot weeks in the US produce a draw almost every night: between the two games, only Sunday and Thursday pass without a major US drawing.
What time is the Mega Millions drawing?
The draw is at 11:00 pm Eastern Time — one minute later in the evening than Powerball's, and easy to remember on the hour. For players outside the US, that lands the next morning or afternoon. During the US daylight-saving months (mid-March to early November):
| Region | Local draw time | When |
|---|---|---|
| US East Coast | 11:00 pm | Tuesday / Friday night |
| US West Coast | 8:00 pm | Tuesday / Friday night |
| United Kingdom & Ireland | 4:00 am | Wednesday / Saturday morning |
| Central Europe & South Africa | 5:00 am | Wednesday / Saturday morning |
| India | 8:30 am | Wednesday / Saturday morning |
| Philippines | 11:00 am | Wednesday / Saturday morning |
| Eastern Australia | 1:00 pm | Wednesday / Saturday afternoon |
In the winter months some of these offsets move by an hour as clocks change on different dates; the 11:00 pm Eastern anchor never moves.
When do ticket sales close?
Cut-offs are set state by state and vary more than Powerball's: some states stop selling just 15 minutes before the draw, others close an hour or more ahead. Buying online adds its own buffer — couriers and messenger services need time to purchase the physical ticket before the state deadline, so online platforms typically stop taking orders during the evening US Eastern time. The safe rule for any drawing night: have your ticket confirmed by early evening Eastern rather than trying to beat an 11 pm buzzer.
How the 2025 revamp changed the game
In April 2025 Mega Millions relaunched with a new format that matters for every drawing since. A ticket now costs $5 and includes a multiplier — randomly assigned between 2× and 10× when you buy — that boosts every non-jackpot prize automatically. The old $1 Megaplier add-on is gone. The number pool also changed to 5 numbers from 1-70 plus a Mega Ball from 1-24, nudging jackpot odds slightly better (about 1 in 290.5 million), and jackpots now start at $50 million and are designed to grow faster between drawings. If you last played before 2025, the price and the built-in multiplier are the two changes you will notice at checkout. Full pricing routes are covered in our guide to buying Mega Millions tickets online.
How big is the jackpot for the next drawing?
Like every big US lottery, Mega Millions advertises an estimated jackpot for the next drawing, recalculated after each draw from projected sales and the bond rates that fund the 30-year annuity. No winner means a rollover and a bigger estimate; long runs stack hundreds of millions onto the figure, and the record stands at $1.602 billion, won in Florida in August 2023. There is no cap. The live estimate is shown in the card beside this article, so check it rather than any number printed in a story — printed jackpot figures go stale within days.
For the drawing itself, results appear within minutes on the official site and in our results archive with full prize breakdowns; the comparison with Powerball's schedule and odds is in our guide to Powerball vs Mega Millions.
After the drawing: checking tickets and claim deadlines
Once the numbers post, check every line against the game's nine prize tiers — remembering that since 2025 your ticket's multiplier applies automatically to any non-jackpot win, so a printed “$500 tier” prize can pay up to $5,000 depending on the multiplier you were assigned. Online purchases are checked for you: state platforms and messenger services credit wins to your account without you lifting a finger, which is worth something across a lifetime of draws — US lotteries report millions in expired prizes every year from paper tickets nobody rechecked. Claim windows run from 90 days to a year depending on the selling state, and the clock starts on draw night, not when you notice.
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Frequently asked questions
Is there a Mega Millions drawing tonight?
If tonight is a Tuesday or Friday in the US, yes — at 11:00 pm Eastern Time. Otherwise the next drawing is at most three days away. Draws run every week of the year, including holidays.
What time is the Mega Millions drawing in my time zone?
The draw is always 11:00 pm US Eastern. During US daylight saving that is 4:00 am in the UK, 5:00 am in Central Europe and South Africa, 8:30 am in India and 11:00 am in the Philippines — the following morning.
Did Mega Millions get rid of the Megaplier?
Yes. The April 2025 relaunch replaced the optional $1 Megaplier with a multiplier built into every $5 ticket, randomly assigned from 2× to 10× at purchase. Every non-jackpot prize is now multiplied automatically.
What is the biggest Mega Millions jackpot ever won?
The record is $1.602 billion, won on a single ticket sold in Florida for the drawing of 8 August 2023. Mega Millions jackpots have no cap, so a long rollover run can always push a new record.