Winning ticket for $1.22 billion lottery jackpot sold in California, Mega Millions says
ATLANTA (AP) — At least one Mega Millions player has plenty of dough to ring in the New Year after drawing the winning number. After three months without anyone winning the top prize in the lottery, a ticket worth an estimated $1.22 billion was sold in California for the drawing Friday night, according to the Mega Millions website.
The winning ticket matched the white balls 3, 7, 37, 49, 55 and the gold Mega Ball 6. The identity of the winner or winners was not immediately known.
The total amount of the Mega Millions jackpot would only be distributed to a winner who chooses an annuity paid over 29 years. Nearly all grand prize winners opt to take a cash payout, which for Friday night’s drawing is an estimated $549.7 million.
Despite the game’s long odds of 1 in 302.6 million, players continued to purchase tickets as the size of the grand prize grew. Until Friday, the last time a Mega Millions player hit the top prize was Sept. 10.
The largest-ever Mega Millions jackpot ticket worth $1.6 billion was sold in Florida in August 2023. Two prizes for its compatriot Powerball lottery have been larger.
Mega Millions and Powerball are sold in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball also is sold in Puerto Rico.
Mega Millions ticket prices are set to rise from $2 to $5 in April. The increase will be one of many changes that officials say will result in improved jackpot odds, more frequent giant prizes and even larger payouts.
A winning ticket for the $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot was sold in California. Here's what we know.
One lucky Mega Millions player won an estimated $1.22 billion on Friday night, one of the largest jackpots in US history.
The winning ticket was sold at Sunshine Food and Gas in Cottonwood, northern California, the California State lottery said.
The winning numbers were 3, 7, 37, 49, and 55, and the gold Mega Ball number was 6. The winner's identity is unclear as of yet.
The winner will have the option of taking a roughly $549.7 million cash lump sum or the full jackpot paid out over 30 years.
It was the fifth-largest prize in Mega Millions history and the seventh Mega Millions jackpot to cross the $1 billion threshold.
"Congratulations to our $1.22 billion jackpot winner from California," Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a press release. "What an amazing present this holiday season! At an incredibly special time of year, this is both an incredibly special moment for our winner, and for all the great organizations and causes that benefit from lottery ticket sales around the country."
The jackpot was claimed after a 31-drawing run that began on September 10, when the last jackpot was won.
The largest-ever US lottery jackpot was won in November 2022, when a man in California won the $2.04 billion Powerball. He was later named as Edwin castro.
Last year, another ticket sold in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball prize. The California Lottery said that a man called Theodorus Struyck had come forward as the representative of a group that would split the winnings.
The Mega Millions jackpot has now reset to $20 million ahead of the New Year's Eve draw.
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are about one in 302,575,350, according to the official website.
Mega Millions winning numbers tonight for December 27, 2024? Did anyone win drawing jackpot?
The Mega Millions jackpot continues to roll over, growing to No. 9 on the nation's all-time lottery list and the game's fifth largest jackpot in Mega Million's history after no one matched all six numbers from Tuesday night's lottery drawing.
Grab your tickets and let's see if you're the game's newest millionaire.
Here are the numbers for the Friday, Dec. 27, lottery drawing jackpot worth $1.22 billion with a cash option of $549.7 million.
Mega Millions, Powerball: What to do if you win the Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot
Friday night’s winning numbers were 3, 7, 37, 49, 55, and the Mega Ball was 6. The Megaplier was 3X.
A single ticket bought in California matched all six winning numbers to win the Mega Millions jackpot.
Two tickets purchased in California, a ticket sold in Arizona, a ticket bought in Missouri and a ticket picked up in Texas matched all five numbers except for the Mega Ball worth $1 million each.
Powerball numbers: Anyone win Wednesday night's drawing?
You only need to match one number in Mega Millions to win a prize. However, that number must be the Mega Ball, worth $2.
Matching two numbers won't win anything in Mega Millions unless one of the numbers is the Mega Ball. A ticket matching one of the five numbers and the Mega Ball is worth $4. Visit www.megamillions.com for a complete list of payout information.
Mega Millions numbers you need to know: Most commonly drawn numbers
The Mega Millions jackpot for Tuesday's drawing resets to an estimated $20 million with a cash option of $9.0 million, according to megamillions.com.
Drawings are held two times per week at approximately 10 p.m. CT every Tuesday and Friday. You can watch drawings via YouTube.
A Mega Millions ticket costs $2 per play. For an additional $1, players can add the Megaplier to potentially increase their winnings outside of the jackpot.
Here's how to play Mega Millions:
Mega Millions, Powerball numbers: Want to win the lottery? Here are luckiest numbers, places to play
The winning numbers for Monday night's drawing were 22, 42, 44, 57, 64, and the Powerball is 18. The Power Play was 2X.
The current Powerball jackpot continues to grow to an estimated $145 million with a cash option of $66.2 million, after no one matched all six numbers from Wednesday night's drawing.
Here is the list of 2024 Mega Millions jackpot wins, according to megamillions.com:
Mega Millions numbers: Anyone win Tuesday night's drawing?
Here are the all-time top 10 Mega Millions jackpots, according to megamillions.com:
Here are the nation's all-time top 10 Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots, according to powerball.com:
Chris Sims is a digital content producer for Midwest Connect Gannett. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisFSims.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Mega Millions lottery numbers 12/27/24: Did anyone drawing jackpot? Results
Winning ticket for $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot sold in California
Santa came a little late, but he brought one person a $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot as a stocking stuffer.
A single ticket bought 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 top prize.
The jackpot-winning ticket was sold at Sunshine Food and Gas in Cottonwood, a community of around 6,000 in Northern California, south of Redding, according to the state lottery website.
The jackpot has been building since its clock was reset on Sept. 13 after someone in Texas took a $810 million jackpot, Mega Millions officials said. No ticket matched all six numbers revealed in previous drawing on Christmas Eve.
When no one wins the jackpot, it rolls over, and ticket sales contribute to the growth of the top prize.
If the person who bought the ticket lives in California, they could take home the maximum amount. The state one of the eight in which state governments don’t tax lottery winnings.
The win Friday night is the fifth-largest in the history of the game. What had been the fifth-biggest, a jackpot of $1.128 billion, was claimed Monday, months after the March 26 drawing.
That winning ticket was purchased at a ShopRite in Neptune Township, New Jersey, Mega Millions officials said. New Jersey winners have a year to make such a claim.
“It is common for large jackpot winners to take their time to file a claim,” Mega Millions officials said in the statement.
The winner, who chose protection under New Jersey law to remain anonymous, opted for the prize's cash value, estimated at $537.5 million before state and federal taxes, Mega Millions officials said.
The federal tax on such an amount is likely to be 37%; New Jersey would tax it at 8%.
The Mega Millions jackpot found a winner three times in 2024 so far. It's a number officials said would amount to the fewest jackpot wins in a year since the seven-state Big Game became Mega Millions in 2002.
Mega Millions, played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands, produced 10 jackpots in 2023, the most since the game underwent major changes in 2013, officials said in a statement on Monday.
A player from Florida claimed the largest Mega Millions jackpot, $1.602 billion, in August 2023. As large as that amount is, however, it could not surpass fellow multi-state lottery game Powerball's most valuable jackpot, $2.040 billion, recorded in November 2022.
Ticket sold in California has won the estimated $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot
One Mega Millions ticket sold in NorthernCalifornia has won Friday’s estimated $1.22 billion jackpot – believed to be the fifth-largest prize in the history of the game, the lottery says.
The ticket – the first to win the jackpot in over 100 days – matched all six winning numbers: 3, 7, 37, 49, 55 and Mega Ball 6.
Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot amounts to $549.7 million in cash. The prize surged since its last drawing on Christmas Eve, when no winner took home the estimated $1 billion jackpot. Friday’s grand prize was previously estimated at $1.15 billion but grew ahead of the highly-anticipated drawing.
The winning ticket was sold at Sunshine Food & Gas in Cottonwood, Shasta County, according to the California State Lottery.
It’s only the fourth Mega Millions jackpot won in 2024 and just the seventh time in the game’s history that the jackpot has soared past $1 billion.
The six others were awarded in South Carolina in 2018, Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine and Florida in 2023 and New Jersey in March. The Florida prize is the game’s record jackpot at $1.602 billion.
Five other tickets sold in Arizona, California, Texas and Missouri won $1 million each in Friday’s drawing by matching the first five numbers, the lottery said.
“Congratulations to our $1.22 billion jackpot winner from California,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a news release. “What an amazing present this holiday season! At an incredibly special time of year, this is both an incredibly special moment for our winner, and for all the great organizations and causes that benefit from lottery ticket sales around the country.”
With only one more drawing this year, odds are that the year will end with the fewest jackpots won in any single year since the game started in 2002, according to the lottery. Only three other people have won this year, down from ten jackpots awarded in 2023.
On September 10, a Houston-area resident claimed the last jackpot, $810 million, after purchasing the winning ticket at a gas station convenience store in Sugar Land. Before that, a $552 million jackpot was taken in Illinois on June 4 and a $1.128 billion prize was won in New Jersey on March 26.
The jackpot for the New Year’s Eve drawing on Tuesday resets to the starting value of $20 million. There has never been a Mega Millions jackpot win on New Year’s Eve, according to the lottery.
Since Mega Millions began, there have been 217 jackpots won by 244 individual tickets.
The chances of winning any prize in the lottery game are 1 in 24, according to the Mega Millions website, but the odds of winning a jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million.
Concerns have been raised by researchers that the chances of winning the Mega Millions are not only minuscule, but that state lotteries also siphon funds fromimpoverished communities under the guise of a chance to acquire wealth.
A study by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found that in 2022, stores selling lottery tickets were disproportionately located in the impoverished communities of every state, with proceeds going to far away colleges and wealthy school districts, rather than their community.
According to the company’s press release, half of the proceeds from each lottery ticket remain in the state where the ticket was sold to support “good causes and retailer commissions.”
In 2022, the Howard Center study found that ticket sales had grown from $47 billion to $82 billion, generating more revenue than corporate income taxes in ten states.
Ticketsare priced at $2, with players in most jurisdictions given the option to pay an additional dollar to multiply their non-jackpot prizes. The company announced in October that the price will more than double in April 2025, as they promise bigger prizes in return. Each ticket will be $5.
Winning numbers for the jackpot are announced every Tuesday and Friday at 11:00 p.m. ET on the Mega Millions website.
9 Mega Millions tickets sold in Florida win thousands as jackpot rises to $1.15 billion
No one won the $1 billion Mega Millions jackpot in Tuesday’s drawing, but nine tickets sold in Florida still won a nice chunk of change.
Florida Lottery’s website shows that seven tickets matched four numbers and the Mega Ball and those tickets won $10,000.
Two tickets with the Megaplier of 3 applied also matched four numbers and the Mega Ball and those tickets won $30,000.
Tuesday’s winning numbers were 11-14-38-45-46 with 3 as the Mega Ball.
In Georgia, five tickets worth thousands were sold Tuesday night.
With no winners in Tuesday night’s jackpot, Friday’s drawing will be for an estimated $1.15 billion. You can see if your numbers match with the Mega Millions drawing live on CBS47 and FOX30 before Action News Jax at 11 p.m. Friday.
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Florida Lottery says any prizes less than $600 can be claimed at any of its retailers; however, prizes over $600 must be claimed at the lottery headquarters or district offices or mailed for the payment.
Florida winners of prizes more than $600 must fill out a winner claim form and have a valid government-issued photo ID with a social security card.
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In Florida, draw game prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the applicable draw date. Draw game prizes for which a single-payment cash option is available must be claimed within the first 60 days after the applicable draw date to elect the cash option.
In Florida, Scratch-Off and Fast Play game prizes must be claimed within 60 days of the official end-of-game date.
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