How late can you buy Mega Millions tickets for $800M jackpot? It depends where you live
(NEXSTAR) — Another record-setting Mega Millions jackpot is up for grabs on Tuesday but depending on where you live, you may not have much time left to get your ticket.
The Mega Millions jackpot ballooned to $800 million after no ticket matched the winning numbers drawn Friday night. While it could grow even larger ahead of Tuesday's drawing at 11 p.m. ET, it currently ranks as the seventh-largest prize in Mega Millions history.
All but five states sell Mega Millions tickets, but they don't all follow the same schedule. In some states, you'll need to purchase your tickets hours before the drawing to have a chance at the $800 million jackpot.
In roughly half of the participating jurisdictions, ticket sales at retailers end 15 minutes before the drawing (or at 10:45 p.m. ET): Arkansas, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.
For players in 11 other states, ticket sales close an hour before the drawing, or 10 p.m. ET: Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
If you need just a little more time — an extra minute compared to the states above, to be exact — you may want to purchase your ticket in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. These states end retail sales at 9:59 p.m. ET.
In four states — Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont — in-store ticket sales end an hour and 10 minutes before the drawing.
The remaining participating states have varying ticket sale cut-off times (all local):
- Arizona: 6:59 p.m. from mid-March to early November, 7:59 p.m. outside of that period (it lines up with daylight saving time, which most of Arizona does not observe)
- Colorado: 7:30 p.m.
- Delaware: 9:45 p.m.
- Idaho: 7:55 p.m.
- Indiana: 10:44 p.m.
- North Dakota: 8:58 p.m.
Online sales may end at a different time than retail sales. If your state offers online Mega Millions ticket sales, it's best to confirm when the draw break occurs before making your purchase.
Regardless of when you purchase your ticket, the odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302.6 million.
Tickets are $2 and there are nine ways to win a prize. Drawings are held every Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. ET. The estimated cash value of Tuesday's jackpot is $404.2 million.