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,

Winners can either take the cash payout of $549.7 million or the $1.22 billion annuity paid out over 30 years.

Friday’s Mega Millions drawing is worth an estimated $1.15 billion, evoking headlines and likely luring more people to convenience stores with dreams of private spacewalks above the earth.