WASHINGTON: The jackpot for the upcoming drawing of the Mega Millions lottery has ballooned to more than $1 billion, the fourth highest prize ever, its US organizer announced Wednesday.

The Mega Millions grand prize has been steadily growing, along with players’ dreams of fortune, for over three months, with no one correctly guessing the six magic numbers in 29 previous drawings.

Friday’s estimated jackpot sits at just above $1 billion, Mega Millions announced in a press release.

That represents an increase of nearly $200 million over Tuesday’s top prize, which attracted so many players that the Mega Millions website was down for over two hours, the group said.