Players reminded to buy tickets early if they are wanting to play $1.25 billion Mega Millions contest

CLIVE — Nobody won Tuesday night’s $1.1 billion Mega Millions jackpot, with the top prize now jumping to an estimated $1.25 billion for the next drawing on Friday night.

Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer reminds us that if you are going to play that you should buy your tickets early as ticket sales are always cut off at 8:59 PM the night of the drawing.  “It’s an automatic cut off, it cannot be pushed back or changed. And if you buy a ticket after that , it would still be a valid ticket, it just wouldn’t be for that night’s drawing,” she says.

Neubauer says there’s another issue to be aware of when it comes to buying tickets. “Because we as human beings are procrastinators, the busiest day of sales is always the day of the drawing, so that’s something else to keep in mind,” Neubauer says. 

The cash option for Friday’s drawing is just over $625 million.