NEW YORK (WABC) — A lone ticket-holder in Maine will be celebrating a very happy new year after that ticket was the only one to match all six numbers in Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing.
The prize is estimated at $1.35 billion ($724.6 million in cash), which is the second largest jackpot in the history of the game!
The numbers obtained on Friday night are: 30, 43, 45, 46, 61 and golden Mega Ball 14.
In Maine, the owner of Lebanon’s “Hometown Gas and Grill” is anxious to see who bought the lucky ticket from his store.
“Your wheels started turning. When I got the news from the lottery commission early in the morning. Afterwards, I checked my own tickets. I was eager to know who it was. use,” said Fred Cotreau.
Even if you’re not a winning ticket holder, don’t throw your tickets away just yet. Tickets worth $1 million were sold in Manhattan, Long Island City, and other New York locations.
The jackpot has been active since it was last won on October 14, when a $502 million prize was split between winning tickets in California and Florida.
This 26-drawing jackpot run ended with a bang, with 7,072,832 winning tickets across all nine prize levels in the January 13 draw alone, including the jackpot-winning ticket. Fourteen tickets match all five white balls to win the game’s 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.
For the matching of the four white balls and the Mega Ball, 164 tickets have the third level of winnings. Of those, 27 include the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an additional $1 purchase), which is 2X on Friday night; they cost $20,000 each. The remaining 137 second-tier winning tickets carry the usual $10,000 prize.
The odds of winning a Mega Millions drawing are as low as one in nearly 303 million.
Friday night’s jackpot win was the seventh on Friday the 13th since the game began in 2002, and the first of the day since October 2017.
Michigan has been especially lucky with Mega Millions jackpots on Friday the 13th, winning four of them (June 2008, May 2011, June 2014 and October 2017). The 2017 jackpot was shared by a Rhode Island winner. Other Friday the 13th jackpots have been won in New York (March 2009) and Ohio (November 2015). None of them, however, came close to the size of the estimated $1.35 billion won this season.
Here’s a look at the 10 biggest US jackpots won and the states where the winning tickets were sold:
1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 (one ticket, from California)
2. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)
3. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)
4. $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023 (one ticket from Maine)
5. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)
6. $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)
7. $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)
8. $758.7 million, Powerball, August 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)
9. $731.1 million, Powerball, Jan. 20, 2021 (one ticket, from Maryland)
10. $699.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 4, 2021 (one ticket, from California)
RELATED: Here’s what you can buy if you win
Credit for recent big prizes is actually due to math – and harder odds.
In the fall of 2017, lottery officials approved changes to Mega Millions that significantly extended the odds from one in 258.9 million to one in 302.6 million. They made similar changes to the Powerball in October 2015, which worsened the odds from one in 175.2 million to one in 292.2 million.
The idea is that by making jackpots less common, ticket revenue can be increased every week, creating big prizes that attract attention and attract more players who have grown blasé around $100 million or $200 million first prize.
In August 2021, Powerball also added a third weekly drawing, which made the jackpot move and grow faster as people had more chances to play, and lose. Mega Millions remains biweekly drawings.
Thanks to the moves, nine of the top 10 biggest lottery prizes have been won since 2017.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
WATCH: New York state lottery drawings live daily at 2:30 pm and 10:30 pm and Wednesday and Saturday at 8:15 pm
Powerball Drawings are also streamed here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m
Mega Millions Drawings are streamed on Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 p.m
The New York Lottery is the largest and most profitable in North America, contributing billions of dollars to help support education in New York State.
Revenue is distributed to local school districts through the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education. According to the New York lottery, the formula takes into account the size of the school district and its income level; larger, low-income school districts receive a proportionally larger share of Lottery school funding.
For more information about the New York lottery and to view lottery results, please visit nylottery.ny.gov.
New Yorkers struggling with gambling addiction, or who know someone who is, can find help by calling the State’s toll-free, confidential HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY (1-877-846 -7369) or by texting HOPENY ( 467369). Standard text rates may apply.
———-
* Give the News to the Witness
* Follow us on YouTube
* More local news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for news alerts
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News
Got a tip on breaking news or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Witness News using the form below. When attaching a video or photo, the terms of use apply.
Copyright © 2023 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.
