A ticket holder in New Jersey struck gold by winning the Mega Millions jackpot, which soared to an impressive $1.13 billion, making it the fifth-largest prize ever offered in the game’s history. This win breaks a streak of 30 consecutive drawings without a claimed jackpot.
The winning combination for the jackpot consisted of the numbers 7, 11, 22, 29, and 38, with the Powerball number being 4, as announced by Mega Millions on its website in the early hours of Wednesday.
The fortunate winner, who remains anonymous for now, faces a tough decision: to take home a lump sum of $537.5 million or opt for 30 annual payments, subject to income tax.
Though substantial, this jackpot falls short of the record set by a Mega Millions draw in Florida last year, where a staggering $1.6 billion was up for grabs. The winner, who chose to keep their identity undisclosed, defied the odds of 1 in 302.6 million.
Tickets for Mega Millions drawings, held twice weekly, are priced at $2 each and are available for purchase in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Meanwhile, the Powerball drawing on Monday night failed to produce any winners for its $800 million jackpot, one of the largest in the game’s history.
The title for the largest single lottery prize in U.S. history still belongs to the holder of a Powerball ticket in California, who walked away with a staggering $2.04 billion in November 2022.
