The Mega Millions jackpot is now $910 million after months without a big winner

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Lottery players will have another shot at a huge Mega Millions jackpot Friday night and a chance to break a stretch of more than three months without a big winner of the game.

The estimated $910 million prize has been building since someone last matched all six numbers and won the jackpot April 18. Since then, there have been 28 straight drawings without a jackpot winner.

The jackpot is now the eighth-largest ever in the US. It comes a little over a week after someone in Los Angeles won a $1.08 billion Powerball prize that ranked as the sixth-largest in US history. It's still a mystery who won that prize.

Lottery jackpots grow so large because the odds of winning are so small. For Mega Millions, the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 302.6 million.

The $910 million prize would be for a sole winner choosing to be paid through an annuity with annual payments over 30 years. Jackpot winners almost always opt for a lump sum payment, which for Friday night's drawing would be an estimated $464.2 million.

Winners also would be subject to federal taxes, while many states also tax lottery winnings.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands.