Mega Millions: Winning ticket for $1.35 billion jackpot sold in Lebanon, Maine

Friday the 13th was a lucky day for someone in Maine.

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One ticket bought in the state matched the winning numbers for the Mega Millions estimated $1.35 billion grand prize, lottery officials said.

The winning numbers for Friday were 30, 43, 45, 46 and 61, and the gold Mega Ball was 14.

Update 4:40 p.m. EST Jan. 14: According to Maine Lottery officials, the winning ticket was sold at Hometown Gas & Grill in Lebanon, Maine.

Lebanon, a town in York County in southwestern Maine, is located near the New Hampshire state line. It is the westernmost town in the state.

Original report: The jackpot is the second-largest in the Mega Millions promotion and the fourth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history. It was also the fourth time the game has had a billion-dollar winner.

The winning ticket holder from Friday’s drawing can take the full $1.35 billion in an annuity spread over 29 annual payments, or a lump sum estimated at $724.6 million before state and local taxes are deducted, lottery officials said.

“Congratulations to the Maine State Lottery, which has just won its first-ever Mega Millions jackpot,” Ohio lottery director and lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement on Saturday. “We thank all our retailers for their hard work during this spectacular run and our customers for their enthusiasm and support. I hope the fun and excitement Mega Millions has generated inspires a winning attitude in our daily lives and towards everyone we meet. Here’s to a good year.”

It was the seventh time a jackpot had been won on Friday the 13th since the game began in 2002, The Associated Press reported. It also was the first Friday the 13th Mega Millions winner since October 2017, lottery officials said.

A record $1.537 billion ticket was sold in South Carolina for the Oct. 23, 2018, drawing. The other billion-dollar winners were $1.337 billion, when a ticket was sold in Des Plaines, Illinois, on July 29, 2022; and on Jan. 22, 2021, when a $1.050 billion prize jackpot was won in Michigan by the Wolverine FLL Club of Oakland County in the Jan. 22, 2021, drawing.

The last time anyone had won the grand prize in the Mega Millions game was Oct. 14, lottery officials said. Friday night’s drawing was the 26th since the last winning ticket was sold.

Lottery officials said that 14 tickets matched all five white balls to win the Mega Millions’ second-tier prize of $1 million. Four were sold in New York, two in California, and one each in Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350. The game is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Mega Millions drawings are held on Tuesdays and Fridays.

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