A lucky Mega Millions winner in Georgia scored the $989 million jackpot after the longest drought in the history of the game — but they’ll end up walking away with a lot less than that.
Friday’s winning ticket was bought in a Publix grocery store in Newnan, a town 35 miles southwest of Atlanta, following 40 days of drawing without a winner.
The jackpot ticket matched all six numbers – 1, 8, 11, 12, 57, and the Mega Ball 7, and the odds of winning were 1 in 290,472,336, according Mega Millions.
Georgia taxes lottery winnings as income at 5.14%, on top of the 24% in federal taxes withheld by the IRS.
That means out of the $989 million jackpot, the winner will take home about $240 million after taxes, if they opt for the lump sum, according to USAMega.com.
The full payout over 30 years will be about $522 million — about $17.4 million per year.
The lump sum after taxes would still allow the winner to buy Georgia’s most expensive home — a $45 million palatial Georgian-style estate — more than five times over.
Winning tickets are valid for 180 days after drawing, according to the Georgia Lottery, and must be redeemed in the state they’re bought.
There’s a good chance the public will never know the lotto winner’s name.
In Georgian winners can request to keep their identity a secret if they win prizes over $250,000.
After the jackpot win, Mega Millions resets the prize to $50 million. New numbers will be drawn on Tuesday.
The lottery jacked up the price of tickets to $5 dollars from $2 dollars in April, which lottery administrators say would improve the chances of winning.
“$983 million is the largest jackpot that’s been won since the Mega Millions game changed back in April,” said Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, in a statement.
The last top-ten jackpot win was for over $1 billion dollars, collected by a lucky player in California in December 2024.
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