$267 Million Mega Millions Jackpot Won in New Jersey
Saturday March 2nd 2019Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot went off with a bang as one very lucky winner in New Jersey matched all six numbers drawn - five white balls plus the Mega Ball!
The winning numbers on the white balls were 29, 33, 39, 60, 66, and the gold Mega Ball was 21.
Before the drawing, the jackpot was estimated at $267 million, but it continued to climb to $273 million as sales soared. If the winner chooses the cash lump sum option, he or she will receive $162.6 million.
We don’t know yet who the lucky NJ winner is. They will have one year from the draw date, March 1, to claim their winnings.
Can the winner stay anonymous? Not in New Jersey - the state can make the winner’s name, town, and county public. However, there is a bill currently before the state legislature that could change that and allow winners to keep their identity private.
"Congratulations to the winner of this multi-million dollar jackpot," said James Carey Jr., the lottery's acting executive director. "We encourage the winner to sign the back of the ticket, make a copy of both sides and put it in a safe place."
The winning ticket was sold at a QuickChek convenience store in Phillipsburg in Warren County, a town near the Pennsylvania border.
John Rakowski, the store's manager, said he double- and even triple-checked his own Mega Millions tickets after the draw. But there are other benefits for the store, he said: "Someone won here, and that is big. Once you have a big winner, your name gets out there."
"You can always fantasize about it," said Matthew Murphy, a QuickChek district manager, "but until it hits, you don't know."
QuickChek spokesman Russ Mensch confirmed that Friday's jackpot was the biggest lottery win ever from a ticket sold in one of its 150-plus stores.
The jackpot had rolled over for two months since it was last won on January 1, when a group of 23 co-workers in New York split the $437 million top prize.
The latest win continues the trend for March as a good month for winning the Mega Millions jackpot. For 11 consecutive years, there has been at least one March jackpot winner, and now for the second year running, a winning ticket was sold in New Jersey during the month.
This jackpot run has created multiple millionaires, including 21 Match 5 winners who won $1 million or more by matching the five white balls. There were more than 9.2 million winning tickets at all prize tiers.
The jackpot now resets to its still-very-impressive $40 million default ($23.8 million cash option) for the next drawing on Tuesday, March 5.
Even if you haven’t won the jackpot and still have to go into work on Monday, there is some good news! There were a total of 680,421 winners in the March 1 drawing, so be sure to check your tickets to see if you’re one of them!
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