Winner! Mega Millions Massive $1.34 Billion Jackpot Won With a Single Ticket Sold Here
A single ticket purchased in a Chicago suburb matched all six numbers in Friday evening’s Mega Millions drawing, defeating the 1 in 302.5 million odds to take home a massive jackpot of $1.34 billion.
According to a press release from Mega Millions, this was the second-largest jackpot in the extensive 20-year run of the lottery game. This $1.34 billion prize wasn’t able to top a $1.54 billion win from the fall of 2018.
The winning numbers were: 13-36-45-57-67, Mega Ball: 14.
The winning ticket was sold at a Speedway gas station in Des Plaines, Illinois, and the store will come away as a big winner as well. CBS 2 Chicago was live at the gas station with reporter Asal Rezaei saying that it was a very busy morning for the Speedway.
After noting that this is the “largest lottery prize anyone has ever won in Illinois,” Rezaei reported that the win will give a big boost to the Speedway as they will receive a “cash bonus of $500,000 just for selling the winning ticket.”
The Ohio Lottery Director, currently serving as the Lead Director for the Mega Millions Consortium, Pat McDonald offered his congratulations to the Illinois Lottery for selling the winning ticket:
We are thrilled to have witnessed one of the biggest jackpot wins in Mega Millions history. We’re eager to find out who won and look forward to congratulating the winner soon! Better still, this exciting jackpot run has had a significant positive impact on the revenues for good causes raised by our member lotteries.
Illinois is one of the states in which lottery winners of more than $250,000 may decide to remain anonymous. Winners do not have to come forward immediately and officials may not know for a while who purchased the ticket.
Lottery officials originally estimated that the jackpot would stand at $1.28 billion, but on Saturday the number was revised to $1.34. Winners may opt for the annuity option, where they would be paid annually with their winnings over the course of 29 years. However, most winners opt for the cash option which would leave the ticket holder with an estimated $780.5 million to take home.
In addition to the jackpot-winning ticket, Mega Millions announced that more than 14 million other lower-tier winning tickets were sold, with prizes ranging from $4 to $2 million.
This jackpot had been rolling since the last winner took home $20 million in April.
Last week Raising Canes CEO and founder, Todd Graves added to the excitement of the massive jackpot, announcing he would be buying more than 50,000 tickets for all of his employees. At that point, the Mega Millions Lottery stood at a mere $810 million compared to the $1.34 billion won this weekend.
