Kentucky Lottery offering free Mega Millions tickets ahead of $965 million drawing

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- To celebrate the soaring Mega Millions jackpot, the Kentucky Lottery is giving away coupons for free tickets ahead of Friday night's drawing.

The Mega Millions jackpot is $965 million for Friday. The cash option is $445.3 million. It's the eighth largest jackpot since the game began in 2002.

Coupons for $5 Mega Millions tickets will be handed by lottery officials in both Louisville and Lexington on Friday, Nov. 14.

11 a.m. Kroger at 760 Newtown Springs Drive, Lexington, Ky. 40511
1 p.m. Kroger at 5000 Mud Lane, Louisville, Ky. 40229

Coupons will be distributed while supplies last.

The most recent jackpost to reach this high was ultimately a $1.269 billion prize won in California on Dec. 27, 2024.

After four jackpot wins in the first half of this year, Friday’s drawing will be the 40th drawing in this run, a game record, since it was last won in Virginia on June 27.

Mega Millions tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $5 each and include a randomly assigned multiplier, multiplying the base prize levels by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X.

Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia. The overall odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 23; the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 290,472,336.

$225,000 winning Kentucky Lottery ticket sold in Oldham County

Kentucky couple plans to use $1.5 million lottery prize to give back

Louisville couple uses personal set of numbers to win $225,000 Kentucky Lottery prize