Late last week, one lucky ticket-holder from Illinois won the Mega Millions jackpot. The person won $1.337 billion, which is the second-highest jackpot in the history of Mega Millions.
Second-Largest Mega Millions Jackpot Won in Illinois
The lucky winner managed to match all six numbers for the Mega Millions drawing on July 29. The winning ticket matched all white balls which were 13, 36, 45, 57, 67, as well as the gold Mega Ball 14. If the lucky winner selects to collect the heft prize in cash, they would receive $780.5 million.
Besides the big prize, there were plenty of other runner-up prizes won on Friday. Although only 1 ticket matched all six balls, 26 other winners that managed to match all five white balls. This granted them a second-tier prize of $1 million each. From the total of 26 winning tickets, six lucky winners paid an extra $1 for a Megaplier, which effectively doubled their prize, granting them $2 million. According to Mega Millions, three such prizes were won in Florida and one was won in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Arkansas.
On the other hand, the remaining 20 second-tier prizes each $1 million were won in 15 other US states. Two such prizes were won in Texas, Minnesota, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Additionally, a million-dollar prize was won in New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Illinois, California and Kentucky.
Additional 375 lucky people won a third-tier prize for matching four white balls as well as the Mega Ball. Some 68 winners paid the extra $1 for the Megaplier which means that their prizes are $20,000 each. The other 307 winners would collect the standard prize of $10,000.
There Were Nearly 14.5M Winning Tickets for the Drawing on July 29
Pat McDonald, the lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, commented on the topic. He congratulated the Illinois Lottery for selling the winning ticket for the huge jackpot. Moreover, he outlined that witnessing the win of one of the biggest jackpots in the history of Mega Millions is thrilling. McDonald said that Mega Millions is looking forward to finding out the identity of the lucky winner to congratulate him. In conclusion, he said: “Better still, this exciting jackpot run has had a significant positive impact on the revenues for good causes raised by our member lotteries.”
“Congratulations to the Illinois Lottery for selling the winning ticket for the $1.337 billion Mega Millions jackpot.“
Pat McDonald, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium
For the two-decade history of Mega Millions, the recent jackpot is the second largest. The biggest-ever jackpot won in the game was the $1.537 billion, won back on October 23, 2018, in South Carolina. Overall, the winning tickets for the drawing on July 29 were 14,391,740. This number includes various prizes within the nine different prize tiers, as well as the single ticket that won the jackpot prize.