According to officials, a lucky Florida lottery player won the jackpot after buying a winning Mega Millions ticket worth an estimated $1.58 billion.
The single ticket, purchased at a Publix supermarket in Neptune Beach, an east Jacksonville city, matched all five numbers and the mega ball on Tuesday’s drawing to take home the highest payout in the history of the game.
In the drawing on August 8, the winning numbers were 13, 19, 20, 32, 33, and the super ball was 14.
The establishment at 630 Atlantic Boulevard sold the winning ticket.
The $1.58 billion jackpot winner has two options for receiving their winnings: they can choose a 30-year annuity plan, which would cost them about $783.3 million, or they can choose a lump-sum payment.
Another fortunate lottery winner in the Sunshine State also struck it rich, taking home a $2 million second-tier reward. Except for the giant ball, that player had matched all five numbers. The Kwik Stop at 830 Columbus Parkway in Hollywood, Florida, where that ticket was purchased.
The payout for matching five numbers is normally $1 million, but because the player used a megaplier, a bonus feature that increases non-jackpot prize wins by two to five times, their winnings were quadrupled.
A minimum of 68 additional tickets around the nation took home second-tier awards for $1 million or more. Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oklahoma were among the states where the tickets were sold.
Since the game’s jackpot was last won on April 18, there had been 31 straight drawings before to the significant victory on Tuesday night. This allowed the prize to gradually increase until it became the third-largest in American history.
Now at $20 million, the Mega Millions jackpot is reset.
