Nancy Linares, left, and Prince Joseph Israel, fill a Mega Millions play slip at Blue Bird Liquor on Tuesday, July 26, 2022 in Hawthorne, California.
The $1.28 billion win for Friday’s Mega Millions was 13-36-45-57-67 with a Mega Ball of 14.
According to the game’s website, the Mega Millions jackpot for Friday has risen to an estimated $1.28 billion – the second largest in the game’s 20-year history and the third highest of any US lottery game.
The cash value of Friday’s jackpot option is $742.2 million. The drawing is at 11 p.m. at WSB-TV Studios in Atlanta.
The Mega Millions jackpot is a record $1.537 billion, won from a single ticket sold in South Carolina in 2018. This is the second largest jackpot for
any US lottery game, although according to Mega Millions, it is the world’s largest lottery prize won with just one ticket. ,
The largest jackpot of any American lottery game was $1.586 billion – a Powerball prize since January 13, 2016, shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.
Timothy Schultz, who won the $28 million Powerball jackpot in 1999 and now hosts a lottery podcast, told CNN it “could really turn your life on its head.”
He said that when he checked his numbers in the newspaper and realized he had won, some of the first calls he made were to lawyers and financial advisors.
“It can change pretty much everything, relationships, your ability to live life,” he said. “I think it can buy time, which can be priceless. And, you know, it’s one of the most real life-changing things that could possibly happen to anyone.”
He added that working with a financial advisor will benefit those who have no experience with millions because an advisor will help winners understand what they can realistically do with winnings.
Schultz said that he did not consider himself a materialist before winning so his most extravagant purchases were some cars and real estate.
“I’ve found that for myself and a lot of people I’ve met and interviewed that if you win the lottery jackpot it enhances your personality, or at least it can enhance your personality. Change who you are.” They said.
He said that these days he rarely plays the lottery, he bought a ticket for Friday night’s drawing.
Mega Millions jackpots start at $20 million for annual prizes and increase based on game sales and interest rates for 30-year US Treasuries. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
There are seven other less valuable prizes depending on how many and what types of balls the ticket matches. The odds of winning the $1 million runner-up prize – if a ticket matches five white balls but not the Mega Millions ball – is 1 in 12,607,306.
Mega Millions tickets are sold out in 45 states, Washington DC and the US Virgin Islands, with drawings on Tuesdays and Fridays. Tickets are sold online in Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia and DC, but the buyer must be in that state.