Darrell Smith
Who in America will win the jackpot from Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing worth $1.28 billion?
That’s billion with a B. The winning numbers were 13, 36, 45, 57, 67 with a Mega number of 14, lottery officials announced during the 8 p.m. drawing.
The prize money has been building for months after 29 consecutive drawings without a big winner, according to the lottery, which sells tickets in 45 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The last big winner was April 15 in Tennessee.
Mega Millions fever hit new highs after no one matched Tuesday’s winning numbers when the jackpot was $830 million.
The jackpot, originally billed at slightly more than a billion dollars, was raised to an estimated $1.28 billion in the hours before the drawing, lottery officials said.
If a ticket matches all five numbers and the Mega number, it would be the third-biggest payout in U.S. lottery history.
Friday’s jackpot has an estimated cash value of $747.2 million, according to lottery officials.
The lucky winner will still have to pay federal taxes, although California is one of only 10 states to exempt state income tax on lottery winnings.
Nearly all winners choose the cash option instead of annuitized payments over 30 years.
Still, lottery officials would withhold 24% of the winnings for federal taxes, and winners would likely be on the hook for more.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot — the world’s largest lottery prize ever won on a single ticket — was worth $1.537 billion and was netted by a South Carolina ticket on Oct. 23, 2018.
The second-highest payout was a $1.050 billion prize won by a group of four players in Michigan on Jan. 22, 2021, according to Mega Millions officials. Mega Millions tickets are $2 each and the game is drawn on Tuesdays and Fridays.
To play, you must select five numbers between 1 and 70, and a Mega number between 1 and 25. Players have a 1-in-24 chance of winning anything in a given drawing, with odds of winning the jackpot at about 1 in 302.6 million.
And while you may not win it all, you could still get some cash from matching a few of the numbers.
According to lottery officials, there have been almost 21.4 million winning tickets at all prize levels, including 33 worth $1 million or more, since the last Mega Millions jackpot was hit in April.
If you win less than $600, you can take your ticket to a retailer in exchange for cash, according to the California Lottery. If you win more than $600, download a claim form and deliver it to any lottery district office or mail it to 730 N. 10th St., Sacramento, CA 95811.
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