Someone’s year has been made after matching all six numbers in the New Year’s Day Mega Millions jackpot, estimated at $425 million.
According to the Mega Millions website, one single winning ticket was sold in New York on the Jan. 1 drawing, with seven other players winning at least $1 million after matching all their numbers, but the Mega Ball.
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The winning numbers were, 34, 44, 57, 62, 70 and Mega Ball 14.
According to the New York Lottery commission as reported by CNN, the winning ticket was sold at the Brookville Auto Service in Glen Head in Nassau County.
While the jackpot was initially at $415 million on Dec. 29, the amount grew by $10 million, reaching an estimated total of $425 million on New Year’s Eve.
USA Today reports that the jackpot became the eighth largest in history, and the fifth New Year’s Day drawing with the last one being in 2008. This year’s lucky winner has the cash option of $254.6 million.
While the winner, who has not yet been identified, is most definitely grateful for taking home a big prize, Mega Millions has not had a winner since its whopping October drawing of $1.5 billion, which has yet to be claimed too.
The winner, who the lottery commission states is from South Carolina, has until April of 2019 to come forward and receive their lump sum of $913.7 million in cash. If there had been no winner, the jackpot would have climbed to $2 billion.
South Carolina is one of the eight states where winners can remain anonymous. Other states that allow anonymous winners are Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio and Texas.
The New Year’s Day winner is not the only east coaster to revel in mega winnings over the past year. Last March, New Jersey native, Richard Wahl claimed the $533 million jackpot — one of the largest in the history, and revealed at the time how it was some serious life-changing money.
“I can tell you, it didn’t sink in. It was truly amazing,” he said. At the time, Wahl decided to take the cash option of $324.6 million over the annuity.
The production manager at a food services company revealed his plans at the time for the money included helping relatives, some friends and others in need with his lottery winnings.
“It’s not only life-changing money for me, but I want it to be life-changing money for others,” he said.
Mega Millions is one of America’s two big national lottery games, and played in 44 states as well as Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The other is Powerball.
Drawings are held every Tuesday and Friday night at 11 p.m. ET. In most states you can purchase Mega Millions tickets until 10:50 p.m. ET, which cost $2 to play. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302 million.
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