Mega Millions jackpot nears $1 billion ahead of Friday night’s drawing
Mega Millions lottery tickets sit inside a convenience store in Lower Manhattan, (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Mega Millions jackpot is now the eighth largest in history ahead of Friday night’s drawing where one lucky person could win an estimated $965 million.
The jackpot grew from $900 million to where it currently stands after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night.
The jackpot was last won on June 27.
The prize has a cash value of $445.3 million which can be offered as a one-time lump sum payment or an immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments.
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.
Even though nobody won the jackpot on Tuesday night, there were 809,030 winning tickets across all prize tiers for total nationwide winnings of more than $27.9 million, according to Mega Millions.
The odds of winning the jackpot at 1 in 290,472,336, according to Mega Millions.Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $5 for one play.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot prize ever won was $1.6 billion prize won on Aug. 8, 2023.
Theme park guests enjoy a ride on Stardust Racers within Celestial Park at Universal Epic Universe. Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — The family of Kevin Rodriguez Zavala, the man who died after riding a roller coaster at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park in Florida last week, remembered the 32-year-old as a roller coaster enthusiast, as attorneys for the family said they are conducting an independent investigation into his death.
Zavala became unresponsive while riding the new Stardust Racers roller coaster at the Universal Orlando Resort park on Sept. 17, according to a statement from Universal Orlando Resort. He was transported to a hospital, where he was declared dead, park officials said.
He died from multiple blunt impact injuries, according to the local medical examiner, who determined the manner of death to be accidental.
Zavala’s family has since retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who said they are conducting an independent investigation to get to the “truth” and determine if anything could have prevented his death.
“We have to know what happened,” Crump said during a press briefing in Orlando on Wednesday. “We have to get answers.”
Zavala’s father, Carlos Rodriguez Ortiz, said his son was born with a spinal cord atrophy. He used a wheelchair but was “not under any medical restrictions that would have prevented him” from riding the Stardust Racer, Crump said.
Zavala graduated with a bachelor’s degree in game design and loved to play video games, his father said. He worked as a job coach at the family’s business, which helped people with disabilities get job training and find employment, his father said.
“We are really proud of him,” his father said during the press briefing. “He was incredible.”
His mother, Ana Zavala, remembered him as a good son and friend who was an “angel.”
“I never put any limits on my son, regardless of what condition he had — he had no limits,” she said during the press briefing in remarks translated from Spanish. “He was raised like his siblings, no different. He was completely independent.”
She said he “loved theme parks” and roller coasters and was excited to go to Universal’s Epic Universe with his girlfriend, who got them the tickets and was with him on the ride that night.
“That last day, on the 17th, he was extremely happy all day,” she said.
His two siblings remembered Zavala as an amazing brother, as the family called for answers.
“I don’t want anybody else to feel like I feel right now,” his father said. “So please help me to get that done.”
Paul Grinke, an attorney with Crump’s firm, said they will be bringing together multiple experts, including in design, operations, manufacturing and construction, as part of their investigation. Crump also said they want to focus on restraints and will likely be advised by disability experts.
“We will find out what happened here, and we’ll try to make sure this never happens again, so that another grieving family is not standing in front of you,” Grinke said.
An officer who responded to the park around 9:20 p.m. on Sept. 17 for a “medical emergency” saw CPR in progress on Zavala “on the platform directly parallel to the ride tracks” for the roller coaster, according to an incident report released by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Zavala was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after 10 p.m. that day, according to the incident report.
Zavala had ridden roller coasters “many times before without incident,” Natalie Jackson, an attorney with Crump’s firm, said during the press briefing.
He had been sitting at the front of the ride, according to Crump.
Based on witness reports, Jackson said they learned that Zavala “suffered repeated head injuries during the ride and was unconscious for the majority” of the ride. Crump said Zavala hit himself against metal on the ride.
An internal review found that the ride systems “functioned as intended,” the “equipment was intact” during the ride and park employees followed procedures, according to a memo sent in the wake of Zavala’s death from Universal Orlando Resort President Karen Irwin to staff.
A Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News on Wednesday that the department’s current findings’ “align with those shared by Universal after monitoring the same tests and reviewing the same information.”
The state’s investigation remains ongoing, the spokesperson said.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is also conducting an investigation into the incident, and Universal is conducting a “comprehensive review process in cooperation with the ride manufacturer of record,” Irwin said.
“Safety is, and always will be, at the forefront of everything we do,” she said in the memo.
The ride, which opened in May along with the rest of the Epic Universe theme park, reaches speeds of up to 62 mph and heights up to 133 feet. It remains closed in the wake of Zavala’s death amid the investigations.
“We are devastated by this event and extend our sincerest sympathies to the guest’s loved ones,” Universal Orlando Resort said in a statement last week. “We are fully committed to cooperating with this ongoing investigation.”
Crump’s firm also represented the family of 14-year-old Tyre Sampson, who fell to his death while riding the since-dismantled Orlando FreeFall ride at ICON Park in 2022.
“It’s really shocking to me that two years after Tyre Sampson, that we’re here at another tragic death related to an amusement ride,” Crump said. “It is troubling. We have to get this right. We can’t have a third time. We just can’t.”
Mohammad Alokozay is shown in this Nov. 25 2025, booking photo. Tarrant County Corrections Center
(FORT WORTH, Texas) — Homeland Security said investigators arrested an Afghan national who allegedly made a social media post about “building a bomb” and threatened to blow up a building in Fort Worth, Texas.
Mohammad Dawood Alokozay’s arrest took place on Nov. 25, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary with DHS, said in a social media post Saturday.
Alokozay was arrested on state terror charges and is being held at a corrections center in Tarrant County, Texas, according to court records. He was hit with federal charges of transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce.
After his arrest one week ago, Alokozay confirmed to investigators that he made the statements in the video and that he deleted his TikTok account after being contacted by people who had seen his comments shared on social media, according to the criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday.
“He concluded that he was not afraid of deportation or getting killed,” prosecutors said in their criminal complaint. “When asked why Alokozay came to the United States, he responded that it was to kill the others on the call. Alokozay stated he wanted to conduct a suicide attack on Americans, too.”
It is not immediately clear when Alokozay will make his first appearance in federal court.
Alokozay’s arrest came just a day before two National Guard members were allegedly shot by another Afghan national — 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal– in Washington, D.C.
One of the Guard members, U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, later died from her injuries. Lakanwal is now facing a first-degree murder charge.
McLaughlin alleged in an X post that Alokozay “posted a video of himself on TikTok indicating he was building a bomb with an intended target of the Fort Worth area.”
“He was arrested on Tuesday by the Texas Department of Public Safety and FBI JTTF and charged with making Terroristic Threats,” she added.
Attorney information for Alokozay was not immediately available.
McLaughlin said Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a retainer for Alokozay.
-ABC News’ Jenna Harrison contributed to this report.
