It was one of the biggest payouts in US lottery history: The winning ticket took home more than US$1.33 billion in Friday night’s jackpot, organizers said Saturday.
“Check your tickets, Mega Millions players! We have a winner (…) in Illinois. Stay tuned for more details!” East-Central State Lottery tweeted.
“We can’t wait to find out who won and hope to congratulate the winner soon!” Pat MacDonald, CEO of Mega Millions, said in a press release.
The jackpot was initially valued at $1.28 billion, but MegaMillions explained that “the final value was higher than estimated” based on actual sales.
1.337 billion in silver represents what the lucky winner will get if they agree to pay over 30 years.
If he wants to claim his prize all at once, he will “only” get 780 million – part of which will be taken out by taxes – according to an estimate of mega-millions.
The jackpot for this lottery has grown steadily over three months, with no one guessing six correct numbers in the previous thirty draws, just like its players’ wildest dreams.
The odds of winning this staggering sum are almost one in 303 million.
The biggest win so far is $1.586 billion. It also won Powerball, the other major US lottery, in January 2016, but the spoils were split between three winners.
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