Maine won its first Mega Millions jackpot — and someone beat Friday the 13th bad luck — when a ticket purchased in the state matched the winning numbers for the lottery’s $1.35 billion top prize. The lucky combination of numbers drawn late on Friday night was 30, 43, 45, 46, 61 and a golden Mega Ball 14. The winner, whose name is still unknown, beat the high odds of 1 to 302.6 million, resulting in three months of claims-free draws on the jackpot. “Congratulations to the Maine Lottery, which just won its first-ever Mega Millions jackpot,” Pat McDonald, director of the Ohio State Lottery and lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said early Saturday. The jackpot was the second-largest Mega Millions jackpot Millions in history and the fourth time the game has hit a billion-dollar jackpot. The largest Mega Millions jackpot in October 2018 was $1.53 billion, claimed by a single ticket holder in South Carolina. Friday’s successful drawing also marked the seventh time The top prize was awarded on Friday the 13th, a superstitiously unlucky date.To claim the full $1.35 billion, the winner would have to take out the money in the form of an annuity with annual payments difficult for 29 years. Most jackpot winners prefer the smaller, but faster cash option, which totaled an estimated $724.6 million as of Friday night. The next grand prize drawing on Tuesday will drop to about $20 million, with a cash option of $10.7 million. By Friday evening, there had been 25 consecutive draws without a jackpot winner. On Friday, more than 7 million winning tickets were issued for nine prize levels. In addition to the Maine jackpot, 14 tickets matched five white balls to claim the second tier prize of $1 million. Four were sold in New York, two in California and one each in Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas, according to Mega Millions. Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, DC and the US Virgin Islands.
Maine won its first Mega Millions jackpot — and someone outplayed Friday the 13th bad luck — when a ticket purchased in the state matched the winning numbers for the lottery’s estimated $1.35 billion top prize.
Lucky combination of numbers drawn late Friday night: 30, 43, 45, 46, 61 and a golden Mega Ball 14.
The winner, whose name is still unknown, beat high odds of 1 to 302.6 million, resulting in three months of draws without a jackpot claim.
“Congratulations to the Maine Lottery, which just won its first-ever Mega Millions jackpot,” Pat McDonald, director of the Ohio State Lottery and lead director of the Mega Millions consortium, said early Saturday.
The jackpot was the second largest in Mega Millions history and the fourth billion dollar jackpot. The largest October 2018 Mega Millions jackpot was $1.53 billion, claimed by a single ticket holder in South Carolina.
Friday’s successful draw also marked the seventh time there has been a top prize winner on Friday the 13th, a superstitiously considered unlucky date.
To claim the entire $1.35 billion, the winner would have to take the money in the form of an annuity with annual payments for 29 years. Most jackpot winners prefer the smaller but faster option of cashing in, which was an estimated $724.6 million in Friday night’s drawing.
The next top prize drawing on Tuesday will drop to $20 million, with a cash option of $10.7 million.
By Friday night, there had been 25 straight draws without a jackpot winner.
On Friday, more than 7 million winning tickets were issued for nine prize levels. In addition to the Maine jackpot, 14 tickets matched five white balls to claim the second tier prize of $1 million. Four were sold in New York, two in California and one each in Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas, according to Mega Millions.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, DC and the US Virgin Islands.
Maine hits the first Mega Millions jackpot with a top prize of $1.35 billion
Source link Maine hits the first Mega Millions jackpot with a top prize of $1.35 billion