Profitable ticket for $1.22 billion Mega Tens of millions jackpot bought in California

Santa got here a little bit late, however he introduced one individual a $1.22 billion Mega Tens of millions jackpot as a stocking stuffer.

A single ticket purchased in California matched all numbers in Friday’s drawing — 3, 7, 37, 49, 55 and a Mega Ball of 6 — to win the estimated $1.22 billion high prize.

The jackpot-winning ticket was bought at Sunshine Meals and Fuel in Cottonwood, a neighborhood of round 6,000 in Northern California, south of Redding, in keeping with the state lottery web site.

The jackpot has been constructing since its clock was reset on Sept. 13 after somebody in Texas took a $810 million jackpot, Mega Tens of millions officers mentioned. No ticket matched all six numbers revealed in earlier drawing on Christmas Eve.

When nobody wins the jackpot, it rolls over, and ticket gross sales contribute to the expansion of the highest prize.

If the one who purchased the ticket lives in California, they may take residence the utmost quantity. The state one of many eight wherein state governments don’t tax lottery winnings.

The win Friday night time is the fifth-largest within the historical past of the sport. What had been the fifth-biggest, a jackpot of $1.128 billion, was claimed Monday, months after the March 26 drawing.

That successful ticket was bought at a ShopRite in Neptune Township, New Jersey, Mega Tens of millions officers mentioned. New Jersey winners have a yr to make such a declare.

“It’s common for big jackpot winners to take their time to file a declare,” Mega Tens of millions officers mentioned within the assertion.

The winner, who selected safety underneath New Jersey regulation to stay nameless, opted for the prize’s money worth, estimated at $537.5 million earlier than state and federal taxes, Mega Tens of millions officers mentioned.

The federal tax on such an quantity is prone to be 37%; New Jersey would tax it at 8%.

The Mega Tens of millions jackpot discovered a winner thrice in 2024 thus far. It is a quantity officers mentioned would quantity to the fewest jackpot wins in a yr for the reason that seven-state Massive Recreation grew to become Mega Tens of millions in 2002.

Mega Tens of millions, performed in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands, produced 10 jackpots in 2023, essentially the most for the reason that recreation underwent main modifications in 2013, officers mentioned in a press release on Monday.

A participant from Florida claimed the biggest Mega Tens of millions jackpot, $1.602 billion, in August 2023. As giant as that quantity is, nevertheless, it couldn’t surpass fellow multi-state lottery recreation Powerball’s most precious jackpot, $2.040 billion, recorded in November 2022.