Mega Millions confirms 1 winning ticket sold in historic $1.337B drawing
July 29, 2022 - 7:44 pm
Updated July 30, 2022 - 1:17 pm
Someone in a Chicago suburb won the mammoth Mega Millions jackpot Friday after matching all six numbers to win the top prize of $1.337 billion.
According to megamillions.com, there was one jackpot-winning ticket in the draw Friday night, and it was bought at a Speedway gas station and convenience store in Des Plaines.
The winning numbers in the jackpot are: 13-36-45-57-67, Mega Ball: 14.
“We are thrilled to have witnessed one of the biggest jackpot wins in Mega Millions history,” Ohio Lottery Director Pat McDonald, currently serving as Lead Director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement on the lottery’s website. “We’re eager to find out who won and look forward to congratulating the winner soon!”
The jackpot was the nation’s third-largest lottery prize. It grew so large because no one had matched the game’s six selected numbers since April 15. That’s 29 consecutive draws without a jackpot winner.
Lottery officials had estimated the winning take at $1.28 billion, but revised the number up to $1.337 billion on Saturday.
The total prize is for winners who choose the annuity option, paid annually over 29 years. Most winners opt for the cash option, which for Friday night’s drawing was an estimated $780.5 million.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million.
According to the Illinois Lottery, the store that sold the ticket is a pretty big winner, too; it will receive a half million dollars just for selling the ticket.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The game is overseen by state lottery officials.
Lottery tickets are not sold in Nevada.
In recent years, thousands of people have flocked to the Primm Valley Lotto Store at Primm to buy Mega Millions and Powerball lottery tickets. The store is about 45 miles southwest of Las Vegas along Interstate 15 on the Nevada-California border. It is the closest one to the Las Vegas Valley selling the tickets.
Also, various locations in northwest Arizona, including Bullhead City and White Hills, sell Mega Millions tickets.
10 largest US lottery jackpots ever won
1. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)
2. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)
3. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)
4. $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)
5. $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)
6. $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)
7. $731.1 million, Powerball, Jan. 20, 2021 (one ticket, from Maryland)
8. $699.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 4, 2021 (one ticket, from California)
9. $687.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 27, 2018 (two tickets, from Iowa and New York)
10. $656 million, Mega Millions, March 30, 2012 (three tickets, from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland)