Mega Millions ticket sold in Florida wins $1.58 billion, the third-largest lottery prize in US history

The lottery futility has ended after four months as someone in Florida won the $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot on Tuesday. According to the Florida Lottery, a Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach sold the winning ticket with the numbers 13, 19, 20, 32, 33 and 14 (yellow ball). 

Seven tickets in the United States fitted the five white balls to win the game's second-tier award. Among these, two tickets sold in Florida and North Carolina are worth $2 million as they contained the optional Megaplier (available in most states for an extra $1 purchase), which was 2X on Tuesday. The other five tickets sold in California, Pennsylvania, Texas (two) and West Virginia won the standard prize of $1 million.  

According to the reports, 166 tickets sold in various states of the US matched the four white balls plus the Mega Ball and won the third-tier prize. Among them, 28 tickets are worth $20,000 each. There are 138 additional third-tier winning tickets, each worth $10,000.

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There were 31 drawings before the big win on Tuesday. Mega Millions announced the winner of the previous lottery on 18 April 2023. The current jackpot reached $1.58 billion after Friday's drawing resulted in no winner. It replaced the $1.537 billion prize won by a ticket in South Carolina five years ago to become the third-largest jackpot prize in the game's history. 

Mega Millions jackpot winners are rare as the odds of winning are 1 in 302.6 million. Here's a list of the biggest lottery prizes in the history of the United States. 

$2.04 billion (Powerball): 7 November 2022, California
$1.586 billion (Powerball): 13 January 2016, California, Florida, Tennessee
$1.58 billion (Mega Millions): 8 August 2023
$1.537 billion (Mega Millions): 23 October 2018, South Carolina
$1.348 billion (Mega Millions): 13 January 2023, Maine
$1.337 billion (Mega Millions):29 July 2022, Illinois
$1.08 billion (Powerball): 19 July 2023, California
$1.050 billion (Mega Millions): 22 January 2021, Michigan 
$768.4 million (Powerball): 27 March 2019, Wisconsin
$758.7 million (Powerball): 23 August 2017, Massachusetts

The lucky winner can take the cash lump sum payment or the annuity option. The latter allows the winner one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that grow 5 per cent each time. However, many financial advisers say that collecting the lottery prize as cash is a mistake. The lottery prize money is also subject to federal taxes. 

The chances of winning any prize while playing Mega Millions are 1 to 24, as there are nine ways to win.

(With inputs from agencies)

 

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