A lottery ticket won the Mega Millions main prize on Tuesday night in New Jersey, which had accumulated $1.13 billion since December, according to the draw;
the lucky combination was 7, 11, 22, 29, 38 and golden Mega Ball 4.
“We celebrate our new winner, and the dollars raised for good causes during this exciting prize race,” said Mega Millions director Gretchen Corbin, who congratulated the New Jersey Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
Scott McFetridge/AP
The New Jersey Lottery has been part of the Mega Millions since its inception in 2002 and had previously had 24 winners, the last of them in July 2020. On this occasion, the prize had been accumulating since December 8 through 30 drawings without winner (the probability is one in 302.6 million) to become the eighth highest in the history of the lottery in the United States.
The prize of 1,130 million corresponds to the annuity payment;
If the winner wants the money in cash he will receive 537.5 million.
This Wednesday the Powerball drawing is held, with a grand prize pool of $865 million.
No one has won that prize in 36 drawings, dating back to New Year's Day, when two tickets in California won.
[This woman won $440,000 in the lottery but a year later she still doesn't have the prize because her gambling-addicted husband tried to collect it]
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, plus Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands.
Powerball is played in those same places and in Puerto Rico.
These are the largest lottery winning bags in the United States and the states where they were sold:
1. A Powerball ticket in California, November 7, 2022: $2.04 billion.
2. A Powerball ticket in California, October 11, 2023: $765 million.
3. A Mega Millions ticket in Florida, August 8, 2023: $1.602 million.
4. Three Powerball tickets (California, Florida and Tennessee), January 13, 2016: $1.586 million.
5. A Mega Millions ticket in South Carolina, October 23, 2018: $1.537 million.
6. A Mega Millions ticket in Maine, January 13, 2023: $1.348 million.
7. A Mega Millions ticket in Illinois, July 29, 2022: $1.337 million.
8. A Mega Millions ticket in New Jersey, March 26, 2024: $1.13 billion.
9. A Powerball ticket in California, July 19, 2023: $1.08 billion.
10. A Mega Millions ticket in Michigan, January 22, 2021: $1.05 billion.