A Maine winner walked away with the $1.35 billion prize

The Mega Millions lottery jackpot first fell in Maine, where the winning ticket out of an estimated $1.35 billion was sold. Also, a person from Texas matched five of the numbers and walked away with $1 million.

The numbers chosen in the draw on Friday night were 30, 43, 45, 46, 61, with the Gold Mega Ball 14. The winning ticket was sold at Hometown Gas & Grill in Lebanon, Maine, according to the Maine State Lottery. The southern town of more than 6,500 people borders New Hampshire.

“There’s a lot of fuss at our small-town gas station this morning, I assure you,” said business owner Fred Cotreau. The first thing he did was see if he had bought the winning ticket, but he hadn’t.

Also read: Is it worth buying a $2 ticket to try to win the Mega Millions?

“Hopefully the winner will be one of the residents and one of the regular customers,” added Cotreau. “It’s exciting to have sold it, but it’s even more exciting that it’s a single winner and I really hope it’s someone from here in town.”

The winner, whose name is still unknown, beat the meager 1 in 302.6 million odds that had helped swell the stock market after three months of no one hitting the jackpot.

“Congratulations to the Maine State Lottery on winning its first ever Mega Millions jackpot prize,” said Pat McDonald, director of Ohio Lotteries and the Mega Millions Consortium, in a statement released early Saturday morning.

It is the second largest purse in lottery history and the fourth to exceed $1 billion. Mega Millions awarded its top prize, $1.53 billion, for a ticket sold in South Carolina in October 2018.

The $1.35 billion prize goes to a winner who elects annuities over 29 years. But almost all the winners opt for immediate cash payment, which for Friday’s draw was estimated at $724.6 million.

The prize for the next drawing, scheduled for Tuesday, will drop to an estimated $20 million, with an immediate one-time payment option of $10.7 million.

Until Friday, 25 consecutive draws had been held without a jackpot winner. The raffle also left more than seven million tickets awarded in nine categories. Fourteen people matched five numbers, earning them a million-dollar prize, according to Mega Millions. Among the winners were four people from New York, two from California, and one from Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Texas.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington DC and the US Virgin Islands.

_____

Subscribe here to the Al Día newsletter to receive the summary of North Texas news every Monday and Friday

Join our official channel on Telegram to receive the news of Al Día on your cell phone