The holiday shopping season � for Mega Millions lottery ticket buyers, at least � is ramping up as officials say the estimated jackpot for Tuesday night�s drawing has surpassed half a billion dollars.

As of late Monday, lottery officials estimate Tuesday�s prize at $565 million � or more than $293 million if delivered in cash � after there were no lucky winners holding a ticket that matched all six numbers in the last drawing held on Friday.

Tuesday�s drawing will be held at 11 p.m. EST.

Tickets sold in California and Florida for an Oct. 14 drawing shared the last Mega Millions jackpot of $502 million. The lottery�s top prize has been building anew over 20 drawings held since then.

Lottery officials say there have been 11 winning jackpots of $500 million or more since Mega Millions began in 2002. The record Mega Millions jackpot is more than $1.5 billion, won in 2018, and a jackpot surpassing $1.3 billion was won in Illinois in July.

The largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever won was $2.04 billion in November. The winner bought the lucky Powerball ticket in Southern California.

(AP)