Mega Millions lottery ticket climbed to $1.25 million

The sixth-largest US lottery jackpot will be up for grabs in Friday’s multi-state Mega Millions drawing after there were no tickets sold with all six numbers in the latest drawing, pushing the jackpot to $1.25 billion.

There were seven tickets sold with five numbers, but missing the Mega number, including one each sold at liquor stores in Lancaster and Lincoln Heights, which are both worth $650,579, the California Lottery announced. Bootleggers 2, at 111 East Ave. K sold the lucky ticket.

The lucky lottery retailer previously sold a $23 million-plus SuperLotto jackpot-winning ticket in June 2018, and a $487,222 Powerball lottery ticket in February 2018.

While tickets with five numbers, but missing the Mega number, sold in other states are worth $1 million or a multiple of $1 million, California law requires major payoffs of lottery games to be paid on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning that payoffs can be both larger and smaller than those in other states.

One ticket with five numbers, but missing the Mega number, sold in Texas is worth $4 million because the player utilized the Megaplier option, where for an additional $1 any non-jackpot prize is multiplied by the Megaplier number drawn, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game.