One person hit the multistate Mega Millions jackpot that was drawn on Friday night, and the lucky winning ticket was purchased at a Cottonwood, California, convenience store.
Billion Dollar Bonanza
A life-changing lottery ticket worth $1.269 billion was purchased at the Circle K Sunshine Food and Gas convenience store along Rhonda Road in Cottonwood, California. The Mega Millions numbers drawn on December 27, 2024, were 3-7-37-49-55, with 6 as the Mega Ball.
“California, we’ve done it again! One lucky ticket sold at Circle K Stores on Rhonda Rd. in Cottonwood was the sole ticket across the nation to match all six numbers in tonight’s (Dec. 27) Mega Millions drawing!” the California Lottery posted on its social media channels.
Near Misses and Million Dollar Prizes
Five other tickets came close to matching all the numbers, but two of those ticketholders from California and one from Arizona, Texas, and Missouri will all walk away with a million dollars for just coming up short. Not a bad consolation prize.
The weekly drawing has been building since the last time Mega Millions was hit on September 10th for $810 million, matching a ticket bought in Texas. After well over three months with no grand prize winner, something had to give, and it certainly did, as this recent Mega Millions award was the ninth-largest jackpot in lottery history and the fifth-largest Mega Millions payout.
“Congratulations to our $1.269 billion jackpot winner from California. What an amazing present this holiday season,” said Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium.
“At an incredibly special time of year, this is both an incredibly special moment for our winner and all the great organizations and causes that benefit from lottery ticket sales around the country,” Johnston continued. “Thank you to everyone who plays. Because of you, we have winners all around the country taking home cash prizes, both big and small, and we have educational causes, parks, and many other great organizations benefiting as well.”
Lump Sum or Annuity Payments
The grand prize can either be taken as an annuity over 29 years or as a lump sum cash payment. This payout is estimated at $549.7 million if the cash option is taken, which includes taxes. To put the probability of winning Mega Millions into context, a ticketholder has a 302,575,350 to 1 chance of matching their numbers to the five white balls and gold Mega Ball.
According to the CDC, a person has a one in 40 million chance of being struck by lightning and a 1 in 11 million chance of dying in a plane crash. But that doesn’t prevent people from dreaming and buying pie-in-the-sky lottery tickets.
Top-10 Mega Millions Jackpots — Winning Ticket(s)
- $1.602B — Aug. 8, 2023 — 1, Florida
- $1.537B — Oct. 23, 2018 — 1, South Carolina
- $1.348B — Jan. 13, 2023 — 1, Maine
- $1.337B — July 29, 2022 — 1, Illinois
- $1.269B — Dec. 24, 2024 — 1, California
- $1.128B — March 26, 2024 — 1, New Jersey
- $1.05B — Jan. 22, 2021 — 1, Michigan
- $810M — Sept. 10, 2024 — 1, Texas
- $656M — March 30, 2012 — 3, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- $648M — Dec. 17, 2013 — 2, California, Georgia
