A New Jersey resident has finally come forward to claim the staggering Mega Millions jackpot of $1.128 billion, nearly nine months after the winning numbers were drawn on March 26, 2024. The ticket, purchased at a ShopRite in Neptune Township, matched all six numbers: 7, 11, 22, 29, 38, and the Gold Mega Ball 4.
The next estimated grand prize is a gargantuan $1.15 billion, with a cash option of $516.1 million, lottery officials said. It would be the fifth biggest Mega Millions jackpot ever won. The next drawing will be Friday night. All the totals are before taxes are taken out.
The prize for Tuesday night’s drawing grew from an estimated $970 million on Monday to $1 billion, or $448.8 million for the cash option as more and more tickets were sold during the day and on Christmas Eve.
The $1 billion jackpot would have been the seventh largest Mega Millions pot of gold ever won. A player in Florida got the biggest, $1.602 billion in an Aug. 8 drawing.
Two winning Powerball jackpots top them all: an estimated $2.04 billion in California in November 2022 and $1.765 billion, also in California, in October 2023.
The Mega Millions jackpot has been rolling since it was last won at $810 million in Texas on Sept. 10. No ticket matched all six numbers during the previous drawing on Friday night, with white balls 2, 20, 51, 56 and 67, plus the gold Mega Ball 19.
If someone had won Tuesday night, it would have been just the second Mega Millions jackpot won on Christmas Eve. Someone won a $68 million jackpot in New York on Christmas Eve in 2002, but that prize went unclaimed.
Thirteen Mega Millions jackpots have been won in December since the game began in 2002.
Only three Mega Millions jackpots have been won this year — the fewest in any year since the game started. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
Winners have two choices: a 30-year annuity that pays the full jackpot amount or a one-time cash lump sum, which is much smaller. But many winners opt for it to get the money upfront.
Mega Millions tickets are available in 45 states along with Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $2 per play. Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. EST on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Impact On Local Community
The ShopRite store that sold the winning ticket will receive a $30,000 bonus for facilitating this significant sale. Richard Saker, CEO of Saker ShopRites, expressed pride in being part of such an extraordinary event.
He announced that the commission would be donated to local charities, specifically benefiting Fulfill, a food bank serving Monmouth and Ocean counties. “I’m sure the food bank is really going to appreciate this donation,” Saker remarked.
This jackpot was a result of multiple rollovers that began late in 2023 and culminated in March’s drawing. The New Jersey Lottery reported that winners have one year from the date of the drawing to claim their prizes before tickets become invalid.
or a specific category with our 
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.