The Mega Millions Lottery draw was held on Friday, January 13th, 2023 and had a staggering jackpot of $1.35 billion that came with the cash option of $724.6 million.
Jackpot won
The winning numbers that were drawn in the Mega Millions lottery draw on Friday night were 30, 43, 45, 46 and 61, with 14 being the Mega Ball.
The jackpot had been rolling over for quite a while and this time the draw had been scheduled for Friday the 13th of January.
While the date is often associated with bad luck, there had been speculation that someone may be able to claim the big prize because there have been a total of seven jackpots won on this date before as well.
The winner
As it turns out, a Mega Millions player hailing from Maine was able to match all the numbers required for winning the jackpot, which means they now have a ticket worth $1.35 billion.
It should be noted that the grand prize was the second-largest Mega Millions lottery jackpot to have been won, as there had been no winner in the lottery for about three months now.
The highest jackpot won in the Mega Millions lottery was back in 2018 when a player had walked away with a prize of $1.537 billion from South Carolina.
The winning lottery ticket for the jackpot in Friday night’s Mega Millions lottery draw had been purchased at a gas station located in the town of Lebanon.
More details
The odds of winning the jackpot in the Mega Millions lottery are about 1 in 302 million and it appears that the lucky winner was able to defeat these odds to win the second-biggest prize in the game’s history.
Other than the jackpot win, the Mega Millions drawing on Friday night also had other winners. There were a total of 14 players who were able to hit the Match 5.
This meant that they were able to become instant millionaires because they won a prize of $1 million each.
Since the grand prize has now been claimed, it means that the Mega Millions lottery lottery’s jackpot will now reset to $20 million.
This will be the grand prize for the next Mega Millions drawing scheduled for Tuesday, January 17th, 2023 and it will come with a cash option of $10.7 million.
Jackpot winners have the option of claiming their prize as a lump sum in which case they have the option of taking home the cash value of the jackpot.
Otherwise, they can opt for annuity payments in which case they get one immediate payments and the rest is divided in 29 annual payments that increase every year by 5%.
Mega Millions lottery is played in 45 states of the US, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.
