WPBN: Even though Santa arrived a little bit late, he still managed to bring one lucky person a Mega Millions prize of $1.22 billion as a stocking stuffer.
In the drawing that took place on Friday, a single ticket purchased in California matched all of the numbers, which were 3, 7, 37, 49, 55, and a Mega Ball of 6. This ticket was the winner of the estimated $1.22 billion top prize.
According to the website of the state lottery, the ticket that won the jackpot was purchased at Sunshine Food and Gas in Cottonwood, which is located in Northern California at a distance south of Redding and has a population of approximately 6,000 people.
Mega Millions officials have stated that the jackpot has been steadily increasing ever since the clock was reset on September 13th, following the theft of a $810 million jackpot by a person in the state of Texas. The previous drawing, which took place on Christmas Eve, did not produce any tickets that matched all six numbers.
The jackpot is carried over to the next drawing if no one wins it, and the proceeds from ticket sales contribute to the expansion of the top prize.
In the event that the person who purchased the ticket resides in the state of California, they are eligible to receive the maximum amount. Among the eight states in which state governments do not impose taxes on lottery wins, this state is one of them.
It is the fifth-largest victory in the history of the game, and it occurred on Friday night. A jackpot of $1.128 billion, which had been the fifth-largest when it was won, was claimed on Monday, several months after the drawing that took place on March 26.
A ShopRite located in Neptune Township, New Jersey, was the location where the winning ticket was purchased, according to officials from Mega Millions. Winners from the state of New Jersey have one year to submit such a claim.
According to the statement released by Mega Millions, “It is common for large jackpot winners to take their time to file a claim,” the officials stated.
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According to officials from Mega Millions, the winner, who preferred to remain anonymous in order to protect themselves under New Jersey law, decided to accept the cash value of the prize, which is estimated to be $537.5 million before taking into account state and federal taxes.
It is anticipated that the federal tax rate on such an amount will be 37%, while the tax rate in New Jersey would be 8%.
A winner has been selected for the Mega Millions jackpot three times so far in the year 2024. According to the officials, this figure would constitute the lowest number of jackpot wins in a single year since the Big Game, which was played in seven states, was renamed Mega Millions in 2002.
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According to a statement released by the authorities on Monday, Mega Millions, which is played in 45 states, Washington, District of Columbia, and the United States Virgin Islands, delivered ten prizes in 2023.
This is the highest number of jackpots since the game underwent significant revisions in 2013.
A person from Florida won the highest jackpot in the history of the Mega Millions lottery, which was $1.602 billion, in August of 2023. Despite the size of that sum, it is not possible for it to reach the most valuable jackpot ever won by another multi-state lottery game called Powerball, which was achieved in November 2022 and was recorded at $2.040 billion.
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