A Mega Millions player struck gold and won a $560 million (approximately Rs 467 Crore) jackpot, the ninth-largest prize in the game’s history. The winning combination from the recent draw includes the numbers 19, 37, 40, 63, 69. According to the official Mega Millions website, one lucky individual in Illinois took home the grand prize after their ticket matched all six numbers, which was bought online through the state lottery website by an unidentified person. Reportedly, the winner now has two options, they can either get the full jackpot paid to them for over 30 years or take a lump sum of $264 million (approximately Rs 220 Crore), which will be approximately $201 million (approximately Rs 167 Crore) after taxes.
According to Forbes, the winner may face a federal tax rate of up to 37% depending on their income. After this deduction, the winning amount will be reduced to approximately $166.3 million (approximately Rs 138 Crore). If they choose to receive the jackpot in annual payments, the $18.7 million (approximately Rs 156 Crore) per year would be reduced to about $11.75 million (approximately Rs 98 Crore) after the federal taxes are taken out. In addition to federal taxes, the state of Illinois also reserves 4.95% of all lottery winnings.
Reportedly, the last time an individual from Illinois won the Mega Millions grand prize was on July 29, 2022, when an anonymous trust claimed the $1.337 billion jackpot with a ticket purchased in Des Plaines. This is the second time since that jackpot amount has exceeded $500 million. Interestingly, this is the first time the grand prize has been won since March 26, when a lucky player from New Jersey bought a ticket worth $1.13 billion, which was also the fifth largest in the history of the Mega Millions game.
Alongside the unidentified jackpot winner, 944,852 other ticket holders were also declared winners in the June 4 drawing. Two tickets matched the five white balls and secured the game’s second-tier prize, sold in California and Maryland.
Meanwhile, the Mega Millions is played in 45 states plus in the US. As per the jackpot blog, New York has the highest Mega Millions wins, followed by California, New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan, among others.