The second-largest Mega Millions jackpot in its history is still unclaimed, even a month after the numbers were drawn.
The winning ticket
The jackpot was won in the drawing of the Mega Millions lottery on July 29th, Friday. On Thursday, Illinois lottery officials urged everyone who had participated in the draw to check their tickets.
The winning ticket was purchased in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines at a Speedway gas station.
The redeemable jackpot is worth $1.337 billion that comes with a cash option of $780 million, or it can be paid out over 30 years.
While the winner has 12 months to come forward for claiming the prize, they only have 60 days to decide if they want to take the lump sum amount, or be paid over the time span of 29 years.
The retailer who had sold the winning ticket in the previous month will also receive a cash bonus of $500,000.
The Regional Director for Speedway, Michael Browning said that they were happy to bring some joy in the lives of their customers.
However, the gas station workers have stayed tight-lipped about who they believe the winner could be.
Lottery officials
Emilia Mazur, the spokesperson for the Illinois Lottery, said that given the size of the prize, it is not unusual for the winner to take a bit longer for claiming the prize.
This is because winners usually want to get professional financial and legal advice before they claim their winnings.
Mazur added that the Illinois Lottery was ready to offer their support to the winner in the prize claim process in order to ensure they have a good experience.
They also said that they would also support the winner’s request for anonymity. The winning numbers for the Mega Millions draw in question were 13, 36, 45, 57 and 67 and 14 was the Mega Ball.
2X was the Megaplier, which is not applicable to the top prize. Even though anonymity rules are different for every state, Illinois winners with prizes above $250,000 can choose to remain anonymous.
Jackpot winners are asked to sign the back of their lottery ticket right away and get legal advice before they claim their prize.
Harold Mays, the director of Illinois Lottery, said that the winner was probably going through a lot of emotions and they would work with them closely to support them.
