First Mega Millions Jackpot Win in Over a Year for New York
Wednesday March 26th 2014Last night’s Mega Millions drawing saw one lucky New Yorker scoop the $20 million jackpot prize, the first top tier win for the state in over a year. The fortunate player, who purchased their ticket in the Sufflok County region of New York, was the only person across the entire nation to match all five main numbers (19, 26, 51, 57 and 73) as well as the Mega Ball (15).
In fact, the jackpot winner was the only person to match five numbers at all as there were no winners in the Match 5 tier. This is a somewhat unusual feat as there have only been three other Mega Millions draws this year which have failed to yield a $1 million Match 5 winner.
Despite the absence of a Match 5 winner, there were 1,218,365 players who each secured a prize for matching at least one number. 16 of these players won a prize of $5,000 for matching four main numbers plus the Mega Ball and 258 won $500 each for matching four main numbers.
The win is the first Mega Millions jackpot win in well over a year for New York as the last time the state saw a top tier winner was in November of 2012 when 67-year-old Philip Cimino, scooped the jackpot. Cimino was working as a floral designer at the time of his win and thought he’d never be able to retire. “One day I’m worried about paying my bills and the next day, that’s all gone,” he said.
Cimino always used the same method for picking his numbers by choosing a selection at random from a range of receipts he had collected over a few days. “Those receipts are full of numbers,” he said. “I just pick six numbers at random and go with them.”
While it’s currently unknown how the latest Mega Millions jackpot winner chose their numbers, New York winners are required to come forward publically to claim their prize so hopefully we’ll find out soon.
Latest News