Winning Mega Millions ticket for $1.13 billion jackpot sold in New Jersey

[March 27, 2024]  (Reuters) -Mega Millions said a single ticket for a lottery jackpot worth a hefty $1.13 billion, the fifth-largest prize in the game's history, was sold in New Jersey, breaking a streak of 30 consecutive unclaimed drawings.  

Lottery ticket signs advertising the Mega Millions and Powerball games can be seen in Washington, U.S., July 17, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

The winning numbers for the jackpot were 7, 11, 22, 29, and 38, plus the power ball 4, Mega Millions said on its website early on Wednesday.

The winner, yet to be identified, can choose to either walk away with $537.5 million in a lump sum or spread the payments out over 30 years, paying income tax annually.

While big, the jackpot is still some distance away from the largest seen in a Mega Millions draw. In Florida last year the jackpot was $1.6 billion. The winner, who opted to remain anonymous, defied odds of 1 in 302.6 million.

Tickets for the twice-weekly draws are $2 each and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A Powerball drawing for $800 million, one of the largest jackpots in the history of that U.S. lottery game, found no winners on Monday night.

The largest single lottery prize total in U.S. history is the $2.04 billion that a lone Powerball ticket holder in California won in November 2022.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Jyoti Narayan; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Jamie Freed)

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