Mega Millions lottery play slips are on display for customers at a Chicago convenience store in April. Photo by Nam Y. Huh/AP.
According to CNN
A player from the state of Georgia has won a massive Mega Millions jackpot, estimated at about $980 million. It is the eighth-largest prize in the game’s history.
The winning ticket matched all six numbers: 1, 8, 11, 12, 57 and Mega Ball 7. The win ends a long run of 40 drawings without a jackpot, and for the first time since June the largest prize has gone to a new winner. In the previous drawing, a Virginia ticket produced a $348 million prize.
“We are pleased to congratulate the state’s biggest winner in its history.”
The winner may choose between annual payments totaling $980 million over 30 years or a one-time cash lump sum of about $452.2 million before taxes.
The winning ticket was purchased at a Publix supermarket in Newnan – a town about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta. The store will receive a retailer bonus of $50,000 for selling the jackpot ticket.
Georgia Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin said in a press release that this is the largest winner in the state’s history.
Under Georgia law, a winner may remain anonymous if the prize exceeds $250,000 and a written request for confidentiality is filed.
This is also the largest Mega Millions prize since the game’s recent April update that raised the ticket price to $5 and the starting jackpot to $50 million. Under the new system, the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 290 million, the lottery said.
In the most recent drawing, a ticket sold in Michigan won $3 million by matching all five white balls and the 3X multiplier. Also, 22 tickets matched four white balls plus Mega Ball, winning $20,000 each.
The Mega Millions record stands at $1.6 billion, and it was won by a single ticket sold in Florida in August 2023.
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