Maine Player Wins $1.35 Billion Mega Millions Jackpot
Maine’s long wait for a Mega Millions or Powerball jackpot winner finally came to an end on Friday night, as a ticket holder from the state snapped up the second-largest prize ever to be offered in Mega Millions.
The jackpot was worth $1.35 billion following three months without a winner. It had passed the $1 billion mark in the previous drawing and jumped up hundreds of millions of dollars as players across the 47 participating jurisdictions rushed out to buy tickets.
The winning numbers for January 13th were 30, 43, 45, 46 and 61, with the Mega Ball 14. There were more than 7 million winning tickets across the different prize categories, but only one matched the full winning line.
It was revealed after the drawing that the ticket was sold in Maine, at Hometown Gas & Grill in the town of Lebanon. “Congratulations to the Maine State Lottery, which has just won its first-ever Mega Millions jackpot,” said Ohio Lottery Director Pat McDonald, Lead Director for the Mega Millions Consortium.
““It’s the fourth billion-dollar jackpot in Mega Millions history. We thank all our retailers for their hard work during this spectacular run, and our customers for their enthusiasm and support. I hope the fun and excitement Mega Millions has generated inspires a winning attitude in our daily lives and towards everyone we meet. Here’s to a good year!”
Maine has sold Mega Millions tickets since May 2010, while it has also offered Powerball since 2004, but a jackpot win had previously been out of reach.
The big winner now has a year to come forward and claim their prize. They have the option to take the full jackpot amount as an annuity over 29 years, or a lump sum payout of $724.6 million. They could also decide to claim through a legal trust to effectively preserve their anonymity.
Biggest Mega Millions Wins
One more draw without a winner would have probably pushed the jackpot up to a new record amount, surpassing the $1.537 billion that went to an anonymous South Carolina player back in October 2018.
Another 10-figure jackpot was paid out in Mega Millions last year, when a player from Illinois won $1.337 billion. A lottery club from Michigan, the Wolverine FLL Club, also won $1.05 billion back in January 2021. Go to the Biggest Jackpots page to find out more about the top 10 prizes ever won in Mega Millions.
While Mega Millions has had four jackpot wins in excess of $1 billion, fellow multi-state lottery Powerball has had two. These include the biggest lottery prize ever won - the $2.04 billion jackpot that was snared by a Californian player in November.
The Powerball jackpot is already back up above $400 million, while Mega Millions has reset to $20 million. You can see the latest Mega Millions Numbers after every draw.
Published: Tuesday, January 17, 2023Updated: Tuesday, January 17, 2023