Mega Millions ticket sold in Georgia claims nearly $1 billion jackpot

A single ticket bought in Georgia gained an estimated $980 million Mega Hundreds of thousands jackpot, the eighth-largest jackpot in its historical past, the lottery introduced Saturday.

The final time somebody took residence such a excessive prize was in December 2024, when a participant from California took residence a prize of $1.269 billion.

“After rising since late June, the Mega Hundreds of thousands jackpot was gained for the fifth time this 12 months on Friday night. A single ticket bought in Georgia matched all six numbers from the November 14 drawing – white balls 1, 8, 11, 12 and 57, plus the gold Mega Ball 7 – to win an estimated $980 million ($452.2 million money) prize,” the lottery mentioned.

“It’s by far the biggest prize ever gained within the month of November, and the eighth largest jackpot within the historical past of the sport,” the lottery added, noting that “within the 40 drawings for the reason that jackpot was final gained of $348 million in Virginia on June 27 – probably the most drawings in a single jackpot run within the historical past of the sport – there have been practically 14.3 million successful tickets in any respect prize ranges.”

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Numbers on Mega Hundreds of thousands lottery tickets might be chosen by a purchaser in Los Angeles, California on August 4, 2023. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP through Getty Photos/Getty Photos)

“With the brand new, drastically improved prize values, whole non-jackpot prize wins amounted to nearly $343.4 million,” it additionally mentioned. “These embrace 21 second-tier prizes of $2 million or extra (gained in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia).”

Mega Hundreds of thousands modified its format in April, elevating ticket costs from $2 to $5 per recreation.

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Mega Hundreds of thousands lottery tickets are bought at a liquor retailer the place successful tickets have been bought on December 27, 2024 in Hawthorne, California. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Photos)

The prize change will speed up the jackpots a lot sooner and permit the lottery to extend the beginning jackpot from $20 million to $50 million.

The document remains to be the Florida worth in August 2023, at $1.602 billion.

A person holds Mega Hundreds of thousands tickets on July 29, 2022 in New York Metropolis. (John Smith/VIEWpress/Getty Photos)

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“$980 million is the biggest jackpot gained for the reason that Mega Hundreds of thousands recreation modified in April,” Joshua Johnston, chief government of the Mega Hundreds of thousands Consortium, mentioned in a press release.

FOX Enterprise’ Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.