A Texas player hit the $810 million Mega Millions jackpot on Tuesday night, but an even larger prize from earlier this year remains unclaimed. The unclaimed jackpot, won on March 26 in New Jersey, is the fifth-largest in the game’s history, estimated at $1.128 billion.
The New Jersey winner has yet to claim the prize, according to lottery officials. Under New Jersey law, winners have up to one year to claim their Mega Millions prize. While prize winners in the state can choose to remain anonymous, they must provide proper identification when collecting their winnings at the lottery headquarters.
Earlier this year, another significant Mega Millions jackpot of $552 million was won by an Illinois player on June 4. Despite these massive winnings, attention remains focused on the unclaimed billion-dollar prize from March.
If the jackpot goes unclaimed, the money contributed by each participating state in the Mega Millions game is returned. Each state uses unclaimed lottery funds for different purposes, often keeping the money in their lottery fund. In New Jersey, unclaimed lottery prizes help support retirement funds for public employees like teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other civil servants.
The latest Mega Millions jackpot, claimed by a Texas player on Tuesday, came with the winning numbers 1, 2, 16, 24, 66, and a Mega Ball of 6. The ticket was purchased at Murphy USA in Sugar Land, Texas, and the winner has the option to receive $409.3 million in cash.
Tuesday’s drawing also produced four new millionaires in California, Florida, New York, and Washington, each winning $1 million by matching all five white ball numbers.
With the jackpot reset to $20 million, the next drawing is scheduled for Friday, September 13, a date that has historically been lucky for Mega Millions players—seven jackpots have been won on a Friday the 13th. If a player wins the jackpot on this date, they could take home $10.1 million in cash.
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