One ticket in Neptune, New Jersey, has won a $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot
By Jason Hanna and Dalia Faheid, CNN
(CNN) — One Mega Millions ticket sold in the Garden State has just won what’s believed to be the fifth-largest jackpot in the history of the game.
Tuesday’s drawing for an estimated $1.13 billion annuitized Mega Millions jackpot was won by a ticket told in the Jersey Shore city of Neptune, New Jersey, lottery officials said.
The winning ticket was sold at a ShopRite supermarket, according to New Jersey Lottery Executive Director James Carey.
Carey said the winner – whose identity is unknown – should sign the back of the ticket, take a picture, make a copy and put it in a safe place. He also advised the winner to get in touch with an attorney and only tell close loved ones.
“Nobody is used to going from a regular person to a millionaire or a hundred-millionaire overnight,” Carey said.
The winning numbers were: 7, 11, 22, 29, 38 and Mega Ball 4.
The annuitized jackpot –- 30 payments made over 29 years – would rank fifth in Mega Millions jackpot history. The holder could take an estimated $537.6 million lump-sum payment (minus taxes), the lottery has said.
Tuesday’s jackpot win comes seven months after the largest-ever Mega Millions grand prize – $1.602 billion – was won by a ticket that was purchased in Neptune Beach, Florida, according to the lottery.
The all-time largest US lottery jackpot was a $2.04 billion Powerball prize won in November 2022 by a ticket bought in California.
Thirteen other tickets in Tuesday’s drawing won at least $1 million by matching the first five balls, Mega Millions officials said, including three sold in New York, two in Georgia, two in Florida, and one each in California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.
One of the New York tickets won $2 million because its holder bought an optional Megaplier feature. The ticket in California, meanwhile, is worth slightly more than $1 million because prizes in that state depend on ticket sales and number of winners.
This is the first Mega Millions jackpot won since December 8, when a prize of $394 million was snagged by two players in California.
Lottery players will have another chance this week to win a massive payout, as Wednesday’s Powerball drawing offers an estimated $865 million annuitized jackpot – which would be the fifth-largest in that game’s history. A winner of Wednesday’s drawing could opt for the jackpot in annual payments or a lump-sum payment of an estimated $416.1 million – both before taxes, according to Powerball.
The Powerball jackpot was last won on January 1 by a ticket in Michigan with an estimated $842.4 million prize.
Thirty-six consecutive Powerball drawings have passed with no grand prize winner. The odds of winning any prize in a Powerball drawing are 1 in 24.9, and the odds of snagging the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to the lottery.
CNN’s Nic F. Anderson and Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report.
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