A lucky lottery A player has won $1.13 billion – the fifth biggest prize in the history of the game – but has not yet come forward.
A ticket bought in New Jersey on Tuesday night won the Mega Millions, making it the first complete match of the year after more than 15 weeks of the jackpot getting bigger.
‘We are waiting for the winner to come forward to make their claim,’ stated the New Jersey Lottery.
Meanwhile, the lottery revealed that the store that sold the ticket, ShopRite Liquor #781 in Neptune Township, would receive a $30,000 bonus check on Wednesday afternoon.
The $1.13 billion jackpot is the largest ever won in the state, New Jersey Lottery executive director James Carey said during the check presentation to the retailer, according to NBC News.
It is also the eighth largest jackpot in US lottery history and the 28th time that the Garden State won the Mega Millions jackpot, Carey said.
The six winning numbers were the white balls 7, 11, 22, 29 and 38, and the gold Mega Ball 4.
‘It was not a Quick Pick,’ said Adam Perlow of Northstar New Jersey Lottery Group, which is a private operator of the state lottery. ‘It was chosen numbers and it was a one board ticket. One pick.’
Rather than receiving annuity payments, the winner can choose to collect a $536.6 million cash lump sum.
The public may never know who won the historic jackpot, as the New Jersey Lottery allows winners to remain anonymous, its website states. And the names are not allowed to be revealed under the Open Public Records Act, according to Carey.
Going public has not been favorable to the largest-ever lottery winner ever, Edwin Castro of Altadena, California, who alone landed the $2.05 billion Powerball drawing in November 2022. Castro has been sued by a man claiming he stole the ticket from him.
The Mega Millions jackpot has now been reset to $20 million, the default amount.
‘We celebrate our new jackpot winner,’ stated Georgia Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin who is lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium. ‘As well as all the prizes won and dollars raised for good causes during this exciting jackpot run.’
.
