Updated 1/22/2021 6:53 AM With a jackpot nearing $1 billion, sales of Mega Millions lottery tickets are soaring ahead of the next scheduled drawing Friday. When 70 sequentially numbered white balls are dropped into one air-churned kettle and 25 numbered gold balls are dropped into an identical kettle at 9:45 p.m., an estimated $970 million will be on the line for anyone holding a ticket with numbers matching the five white balls and one gold ball drawn. --
Since Halloween 2017, when the current numerical format was set, there have been 337 Mega Millions lottery drawings. In that time, the gold No. 22 ball has been pulled the most, 21 times, according to information found on the Mega Millions website.