The popular lotto game Mega Millions has already been attracting a lot of attention recently with its huge jackpot, but when the drawing last night didn’t produce a winner, the annuity leaped to $290 million, which equals a record $205 million in cash.

Although no one hit all the numbers drawn–1, 4, 6, 11 and 14, with a Mega Ball of 30–several people came close…68, in fact, according to Philly.com. If a ticket hits the lump-sum amount, it would be the second highest payout of all time, coming just weeks after a $210 million jackpot collected by an 81-year old Rhode Island resident.

Mega Millions has been in the news lately after a generous payout led to a group of co-workers filing a lawsuit against New Jersey resident Americo Lopes. The group was recently awarded $20 million of the original $38.5 million after claiming Lopes used money from an office pool to buy a winning ticket. The group had been pitching in to buy lotto tickets for three years before they hit paydirt in 2009, but Lopes’ defense was that he bought tickets for himself while purchasing the ones for the group, and the one with the winning numbers happened to be paid for with his own money.

The jury didn’t buy it, however, and reached a verdict that the sum be split up between the group members equally. Lopes is reported to be understandably upset about the verdit and may appeal. But with recent facts about how Lopes hid the winnings from his co-workers coming to light, an appeal may not be likely.

Mega Millions’ current jackpot ranks at #5 of all time, prompting Twitter users to dream big.