EPA
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NOS News•today, 15:40•Amended today, 18:56
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The top prize of the Mega Millions lottery in the United States has fallen. The buyer of a ticket in Illinois with lot number 13-36-45-57-67 and the ‘megaball’ 14 has won the jackpot of $1.34 billion. It is unknown who the winner is.
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The amount of money has risen to this extraordinary height in recent weeks, as there has been no top prize winner since the April 15 draw, even though there have been 29 draws since April 15. Earlier today, it was reported that the winning jackpot was $1.28 billion, but that was later revised upwards.
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The jackpot is the third highest cash prize in US history. The highest jackpot ever was more than 1.5 billion dollars.
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There was a 1 in 302,575,350 chance of winning.
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Spread out
The winner will have the choice to receive the full amount of money spread over 30 years or the payout of almost 750 million dollars in one go. Most participants chose the latter option in the past.
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In addition, taxes are also deducted from the amount of money. Exactly how much is skimmed depends on where the winner lives.
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