An Illinois resident has won the Mega Millions jackpot after three months of no wins, picking up a life-changing jackpot of $560million on Tuesday night.
In a historic landmark, the lucky person was the first of their kind to bag the winning ticket online, with the numbers in question being 19, 37, 40, 63, 69, and the gold Mega ball 17. Mega Millions players have a 1 in 302,575,350 chance of winning the jackpot in any drawing.
The winner , who currently remains unknown, can claim their $560million win in annual payouts or choose the one-time cash payout of $264million. Illinois state lottery rules permit lottery winners of prizes larger than half a million dollars to keep their names confidential.
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As the ninth-largest jackpot prize in the game’s history, it was also the 14th time someone in the Prairie State won at least a share of the Mega Millions jackpot. However, New York still holds the record for the most jackpots won at 43 in total, according to the blog jackpocket.com .
The Tuesday draw also left one California and one Maryland resident $1million richer, for matching all five white balls. The last time an Illinois player won the Mega Millions grand prize was when an anonymous trust claimed the $1.337 billion jackpot-winning ticket purchased in Des Plaines on July 29, 2022.
It is the second time the Mega Millions jackpot surpassed the $500 million mark since last summer. It is also the first time the grand prize was won since March 26, when one New Jersey player purchased a ticket worth $1.13 billion, the fifth-largest in Mega Million’s history.
The winning ticket was sold at ShopRite Liquor on Route 66 in Neptune Township. The New Jersey grocery store received a $30,000 bonus check for selling the winning ticket.
Like in Illinois, the New Jersey lottery allows winners to remain anonymous and the prizes can be claimed up to a year after the drawing. It comes after one lucky man who won half a billion in the lottery later invested his winnings in a seaside resort hotel.
Richard Wahl was the sole winner of an astonishing $533 million from a Mega Millions drawing in New Jersey back in March 2018. He opted for the cash option, bringing the annuity jackpot down to a one-off payment of $324.6million.
Reports at the time claimed that the after-tax amount to reach Wahl's pocket was around $175 million, still a life-changing amount of earnings. Wahl had purchased his lucky ticket after hearing a coworker tell him how he always passed the Mega Millions sign but never bought a ticket for himself.
One year after the historic win, Wahl spent a fraction of the staggering sum to purchase La Playa Resort & Suites at an auction. The investment reportedly cost him a total of $13.6 million, a prize that others could only have dreamt about.
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