Mega Millions player wins $1.22B jackpot

Mega holiday winnings.

A Mega Millions player in California won the estimated $1.22 billion jackpot Friday night — ending the lottery’s three-month drought without a grand prize winner.

The winning numbers were 3, 7, 37, 49, 55, and the gold Mega ball of 6.

The ultra-lucky ticketholder matched all six numbers, defeating the 1 in 302,575,350 odds of winning the grand prize.

The ticket was sold at a Sunshine Food and Gas station in Cottonwood, located in northern California.

The new billionaire can claim the estimated $1.22 billion in annual payouts or choose the one-time cash payout of approximately $549.7 million.

It is the fifth time a Mega Millions ticket holder has won the jackpot in 2024. A jackpot-winning ticket worth $800 million was sold at the Murphy Express in Sugar Land, Texas on Sept. 10.

The Sol Living Trust claimed the prize and chose the cash payout worth $409.3 million, the Texas lottery announced in October.

The $1.22 billion winning is the fifth largest in Mega Millions history, beating out the $1.12 billion drawn on March 26, 2024, at a ShopRite in Neptune, New Jersey.

The winner of the now sixth-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history came forward and submitted their $1.128 billion ticket on Monday to start the collection process — nine months after the drawing.

The Monmouth County ShopRite sold the big winner that matched lotto numbers 7, 11, 22, 29 and 38 — as well as the Gold Mega Ball number 4 and multiplier number of 2.

New Jersey state lottery law allows the winner to remain publically anonymous.

Friday’s winner could be one of the last before the lottery game undergoes a “mega overhaul” next spring.

Mega Millions announced in October that it will be eliminating the $2 lottery tickets and increasing the prices to $5 per ticket. The new cost is expected to feature higher cash prizes beginning in April.