A man had to step away from a holiday party to make sure a Christmas gift from his friend — a lottery ticket — was really a winner. The friend gifted two lottery tickets to a married couple at an annual holiday party shortly before Christmas, according to a Dec. 26 news release from the Maryland Lottery.

A Mega Millions player may win a big jackpot on Christmas Eve. The lottery prize for the December drawing is now at $1 billion.

No disrespect to Santa, but it was the Florida Lottery that delivered big for one particular lottery player on Christmas. A winner hasn’t yet come forward, but their $1 Fantasy 5 ticket from Publix paid off with a prize of $127,501.45.

The Mega Millions jackpot rose to $1.22 billion after no one managed to hit all six numbers on Christmas Eve. The Friday night drawing comes with a cash option of $549.7 million. If it's won,

It’s been a busy month for lottery players. The Mega Millions jackpot now stands at a $1.22 billion ahead of a Dec. 27 drawing, after a Christmas Eve drawing failed to yield a winner. That makes it the largest such prize for either of the two big multistate lottery games — Mega Millions and Powerball — in the holiday-filled month of December,

A Mega Millions ticket holder in California woke up much richer on Saturday after they matched all six numbers in the lottery hours before to win an estimated $1.3 billion, the fifth largest jackpot in the game's history.