Winning $1.22B Mega Millions Jackpot ticket sold in California

On By Littum

  • A winning ticket for the $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot was sold in California.
  • The ticket was sold at Sunshine Food and Gas in Cottonwood, Calif., the California State Lottery said.
  • The jackpot was the fifth largest in Mega Millions history.

A lucky one Mega Millions player won an estimated $1.22 billion Friday night, one of the largest jackpots in American history.

The winning ticket was sold at Sunshine Food and Gas in Cottonwood, Northern California, the California State Lottery said.

The winning numbers were 3, 7, 37, 49 and 55, and the Mega Ball number in gold was 6. The identity of the winner is still unclear.

The winner will have the opportunity to take a cash lump sum of approx. $549.7 million or the full jackpot paid out over 30 years.

It was the fifth largest prize in Mega Millions history and the seventh Mega Millions jackpot to cross the $1 billion threshold.

“Congratulations to our $1.22 billion jackpot winner from California,” Joshua Johnston, executive director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a press release. “What a great gift this holiday season! At an incredibly special time of year, this is both an incredibly special moment for our winner and for all the great organizations and causes that benefit from the sale of lottery tickets around the country.”

The jackpot was claimed after a 31-draw period that began on September 10, when the last jackpot was won.

The largest US lottery jackpot ever was won in November 2022 when a California man won the $2.04 billion Powerball. He was later named as Edwin Castro.

Last year, another ticket sold in California won one $1.765 billion Powerball premium. The California Lottery said a man named Theodorus Struyck had come forward as a representative of a group that wanted to share the winnings.

The Mega Millions jackpot is now reset to $20 million ahead of the New Year’s Eve drawing.

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are about one in 302,575,350, according to the official website.