Every Tuesday and Friday, the Mega Millions drawing takes place.

- The Mega Millions consortium, which consists of lottery operators from 12 US states, conducts the drawing.

- The selection of the numbers starts the process. The white balls and the gold Mega Ball are the two sets of numbers used in the Mega Millions game.

- Five of the white balls, numbered 1 through 70, are chosen at random for every drawing.

- One Mega Ball, which has a number from 1 to 25, is drawn for every drawing.

- To assure accuracy and integrity, the mechanical ball-drawing equipment used to generate the numbers is inspected and certified on a regular basis.

The numbers are revealed one by one when the drawing is shown live on television.

- The winning numbers are then published on the websites of the participating lotteries as well as the Mega Millions website.