The winning Mega Millions ticket was sold at ShopRite Liquor #781 in Neptune Township, New Jersey (Picture: Getty Images)
A lucky lottery player has won $1.13billion – the fifth largest jackpot in the history of the game – but has yet to step forward.
One ticket purchased in New Jersey on Tuesday night won the Mega Millions, and is the first complete match of the year after more than 15 weeks of the jackpot growing.
‘We wait for the winner to come forward to file their claim,’ stated the New Jersey Lottery.
In the meantime, the lottery announced that the retailer that sold the ticket, ShopRite Liquor #781 in Neptune Township, would be presented with a $30,000 bonus check on Wednesday afternoon.
The $1.13billion jackpot is ‘the largest’ ever won in the state, New Jersey Lottery executive director James Carey said during the check presentation to the retailer, according to NBC News.
It is also the eight biggest jackpot in US lottery history and the 28th time that the Garden State won the Mega Millions jackpot, Carey said.
The six winning numbers were the white balls 7, 11, 22, 29 and 38, and the gold Mega Ball 4.
‘It was not a Quick Pick,’ said Adam Perlow of Northstar New Jersey Lottery Group, which is a private operator of the state lottery. ‘It was chosen numbers and it was a one board ticket. One pick.’
Instead of annuity payments, the winner can opt to redeem a $536.6million cash lump sum.
The public may never know who won the historic jackpot, as the New Jersey Lottery allows winners to stay anonymous, its website states. And the names are not permitted to be disclosed under the Open Public Records Act, according to Carey.
Going public has not been friendly to the largest-ever lottery winner ever, Edwin Castro of Altadena, California, who alone landed the $2.05billion Powerball drawing in November 2022. Castro has been sued by a man claiming he stole the ticket from him.
The Mega Millions jackpot is now reset to $20million, the default amount.
‘We celebrate our new jackpot winner,’ stated Georgia Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin who is lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium. ‘As well as all the prizes won and dollars raised for good causes during this exciting jackpot run.’
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