Marked as what is believed to be the fifth-largest jackpot win worldwide, the winner from New Jersey bought a Mega Millions ticket from Garden State in NJ, with winning numbers 7, 11, 22, 29 and 38, and with a Mega Ball Number 4 – landing a staggering win of $1.13 billion.
The jackpot had an original cash value of $537.5, which had been accumulated from the past 31 other drawings. The winning amount of over a billion is the result of the Mega Ball Number, with a multiplying value of 3.
Recent Wins
Just seven months earlier, a jackpot of $1.602 billion was won in Florida. Together with the winner, 13 other tickets won more than $1 million each. The winners pertained to states across the US, including New York, California, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
Specifically for the Mega Millions Jackpot, only three months before the NJ win, two Californian players also landed a win from the same lottery – landing a prize of $394 million.
How to play Mega Millions
You can buy a ticket at $2 per play. Numbers between 1 and 70 are picked, either randomly or by yourself, as well as a Mega Ball number from 1 to 25. You can land any win from $2 to the accumulated Jackpot. Wins are landed by matching six winning numbers.
Players can also opt to add a $1 and choose a multiplying value by 2, 3, 4, or 5. This megaplier multiplies what you have already won into the number of times you guessed right – so in this case in particular, the player guessed a 4 Megaplier; therefore, their wins were multiplied by four.
Following this win, the jackpot has now been reset to $20 million or $9.5 million as a cash option.