Mega Millions Has a $1.13B Jackpot Winner From New Jersey

One winning ticket was sold for the Mega Millions $1.13 billion jackpot in New Jersey.

ShopRite sold the winning ticket at its liquor store in Neptune Township, New Jersey. The store’s owner, Richard Saker, shared what they know about the big win with NJ.com. Saker owns 40 ShopRite locations in the Garden State.

“It’s unbelievably exciting,” Saker said. He added that the company plans to donate its $30,000 bonus for selling the ticket to charity.

“We have such a dedicated lottery customer base and we’re just hoping the winner was someone [who has] been playing for a long time,” said Daniel Saker. “Hopefully it’s life-changing for them.”

The identity of the ShopRite worker who sold the ticket is known, but even the winning store doesn’t know who holds the ticket.

N.J. ShopRite that sold $1.13B Mega Millions ticket to donate its $30K bonus to charity https://t.co/U0glAIagaN

— njdotcom (@njdotcom) March 27, 2024

The official lottery website reports that 171 tickets matched four white balls and the Mega Ball to win the game’s third-tier prize. Out of these, 34 tickets are worth $20,000 each because they included the optional Megaplier. The remaining 137 third-tier winning tickets are worth $10,000 each.

The winning numbers were 7, 11, 22, 29, 38, and gold Mega Ball 4. The jackpot has a cash option of $536.6 million. It’s the fifth-most-valuable payout in U.S. lottery history.

New Jersey has now seen 24 Mega Millions jackpot winners over the years, either singly or shared with other states. The most recent Mega Millions jackpot won in New Jersey was on July 24, 2020.

Mega Millions tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and they cost $2 each. Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. EST on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia. 

The jackpot for the next drawing on Friday, March 29, resets its current starting value at $20 million ($9.5 million cash).