According to a lottery official, the lucky lotto player who won the Mega Millions Lottery jackpot worth a whopping $1.28 billion has not yet come forward to claim their prize.
Friday night’s draw
The Mega Millions lottery draw was conducted on July 29th, Friday and the winning numbers for it were 13, 36, 45, 57, 67 and 14 was the Mega Ball. 2X was the Megaplier.
After Tuesday night’s draw of the Mega Millions lottery that had seen no jackpot winner, the big prize had reached the billion-dollar milestone.
The jackpot had been growing since April, as no one had managed to win the prize. This meant that there were a total of 29 consecutive draws that so no jackpot winner.
The lottery officials revealed that the single ticket had been sold in Des Plaines, Illinois at a Speedway gas station, almost 17 miles northwest of Chicago.
Harold Mays, the director of the Illinois Lottery, said in a press conference on Saturday that they had not heard from the winner, so there is a possibility that they may not know about their incredible win.
Therefore, they were instructing all lottery players to check their tickets. Furthermore, it is also possible that the identity of the winner may not be revealed at all.
Illinois state law dictates that the identity of lottery winners cannot be revealed, unless they consent to do so.
A $700 million prize
The Mega Millions lottery winner has won the third largest jackpot in history and all with just a $2 ticket. The ticket-holder can choose between an annuity and a lump sum payment.
If they decide to go with annuity, they would receive the full $1.28 billion, but in installments for 29 years.
But, if they decide to go with the cash option, as most lottery winners do, they will be able to walk away with roughly $742 million.
There will also be tax deductions, depending on where they are from, but it will still mean a life-changing win.
Apart from the big win, there were also other winners in Friday night’s draw of the Mega Millions’ lottery.
26 ticket holders were able to take home second-tier prizes, which were either $1 million, or $2 million each, depending on whether they opted for the Megaplier or not.
There were 14,391,740 tickets that had managed to win some amount of money in the Mega Millions draw on Friday night, spread across its nine prize tiers.
The Mega Millions Jackpot
This year, the Mega Millions jackpot has been claimed about four times so far. The dates are January 28th, 8th March and 12th and 15th April.
The largest jackpot paid out in the Mega Millions lottery was $1.537 billion that was won back in October 2018 in South Carolina.
The jackpot for Friday night’s draw had been just shy of the biggest Mega Millions lottery jackpot to have been paid out.
The Mega Millions lottery is played in 45 states, along with the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands.
