July has already been a month that has seen a record lottery win in Europe. A ticket sold in the UK won a £195.7 million EuroMillions jackpot. America always seems to do things a bit bigger though don’t they? This Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot is a staggering $1.1 billion, yes billion!
With players queuing up to buy tickets, it’s likely the top prize will be even higher by the time the draw takes place. In fact, it’s already grown from the $1.02 billion that was being advertised on the Mega Millions site on Wednesday. Amazingly though, it’s only the second highest jackpot in the history of the Mega Millions draw and the third biggest in the USA.
There have been three Mega Millions jackpots won in 2022. The largest of the wins was in January when $426 million was won. March saw another jackpot won but since then, only in the April 15 draw has the Mega Millions top prize been won.
On that occasion, the win was only $110 million, now it’s not far off ten times that amount. There have been 29 draws held since that win on April 15. No wonder, Mega Millions spokesperson Maria Kilbane says: “It takes a long time for this kind of jackpot to get up this high, so we’re excited.”
Tuesday’s draw wasn’t great news for any players who use birthdays and anniversaries for their numbers. Three of the five main balls were in the 60s. It’s not all bad news for players because since the last jackpot was won, there have been 42 tickets sold that have won at least $1 million.
The jackpot may at the time of writing be $1.1 billion but don’t expect to see that amount in your bank account if you do win. There are two ways the jackpot will be paid. The first is to receive your jackpot in 30 annual payments. The other is to accept the one-off cash payment which at the moment is $648.2 million.
If the latter method is chosen (and that’s usually what happens), you won’t receive the full amount. Federal and state taxes will need to be paid so you might end up with just less than half a billion dollars. It’s enough to cope with the cost of living crisis though.
The largest ever Mega Millions jackpot was won in October 2018. That amazing jackpot was $1.537 billion. A single ticket sold in North Carolina won that prize but waited until March 2019 to claim their winnings.
What’s the highest ever jackpot win in the US? That was a $1,586 billion Powerball jackpot won in January 2016. However, the largest Mega Millions jackpot win is the highest amount won by a single ticket.
