UNITED STATES – (PRESS RELEASE) -- There is no shortage of excitement or winners in Mega Millions. You only need to look at Tuesday's drawing for proof. A total of 1,104,038 Mega Millions tickets in 12 states won prizes, including three tickets that came within a heartbeat of winning it all. No ticket matched all six numbers to win the $150 million jackpot, so the jackpot for the Friday, February 23 Mega Millions drawing grows to an estimated $177 million.

The winning numbers in Tuesday's drawing were: 01-09-26-46-51 and the Mega Ball number was 11.

Those three tickets that came so close to winning the jackpot did so by matching the first five numbers and only missing the Mega Ball number. The tickets were purchased in California, New York and Virginia.

This jackpot has been growing since January 9, when Mega Millions had its most recent jackpot winner. The jackpot has now rolled 12 times without a winner. The odds of winning the jackpot are approximately one in 176 million. The odds of winning any of the Mega Millions prizes are approximately 1 in 40.

Mega Millions is played in 12 states: California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

Mega Millions drawings are held Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 PM Eastern Time, 10:00 PM Central Time and 8:00 PM Pacific Time.

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