Fifth largest Mega Millions jackpot of $1.13 billion won in New Jersey

One lucky ticket-holder in New Jersey matched all six numbers of Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot to take home a $1.128 billion prize ($536.6 million cash), the fifth largest jackpot in the history of the game.

In 31 drawings since the Mega Millions jackpot was last won on December 8 with two tickets in California, the jackpot run produced more than 29.9 million winning tickets at all prize levels, ranging from $2 up to $4 million (plus the jackpot).

These include 56 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, won in 22 different jurisdictions from coast to coast.

“Congratulations to the New Jersey Lottery for selling a jackpot-winning ticket in Tuesday’s $1.128 billion Mega Millions drawing,” said Georgia Lottery president and CEO Gretchen Corbin, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium. “We celebrate our new jackpot winner, as well as all the prizes won and dollars raised for good causes during this exciting jackpot run.”

In the March 26 drawing alone, there were a total of 3,693,854 winning tickets, including the single jackpot winner. Thirteen tickets matched the five white balls to win the game’s second-tier prize.

Across the country, 171 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the game’s third-tier prize.

The New Jersey Lottery, one of the original members of the Mega Millions Consortium when the game was formed in 2002, has now seen 24 Mega Millions jackpot winners over the years, either singly or shared with other states.

Prior to Tuesday night’s windfall, the most recent Mega Millions jackpot won in New Jersey was on July 24, 2020.

The jackpot for the next Mega Millions drawing tomorrow (Friday March 29) resets to its current starting value of $20 million ($9.5 million cash).

“Congratulations to the winner of this life changing jackpot! We encourage the winner to immediately sign the back of the ticket, make a copy of both sides and put it in a safe place,” said New Jersey Lottery executive director James Carey. “The Lottery has a Winner’s Guide on our website at NJLottery.com and we encourage the winner to read it before reaching out to Lottery officials at 1-800-222-0996 to file a claim for this jackpot prize,”

A 2020 New Jersey law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous indefinitely, and the identity of winners will not be included in materials available to public inspection under the State’s Open Public Records Act.