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A ticket bought in Illinois won the grand prize for the $1.286 billion in Friday night’s Mega Millions declared on July 29. The news has been confirmed by the Illinois’ official lottery website, however, the winner is yet to come forward to claim their prize.
The prize money for July 29 is the third highest sum won in the lottery, standing behind $1.586 in Powerball in January 2016 and $1.53 billion in the Mega Millions in October 2018.
After news of the lottery broke, Twitter users started to share their reactions. One user tweeted:
Twitter users reacted to the news of the Mega Millions winning ticket being bought in Illinois
The winning price for last week's draw was a whopping $1.28 billion after nobody won Tuesday's draw, offering a jackpot prize of $810 million. The winner will be handed a sum amount of $747.2 million, which will be further taxed by the central and state government.
Taxes are likely to decrease the winning payment, but it will still be a handsome amount, and internet users were not shy to show their envy. They conveyed their jealousy by sharing hilarious memes and tweets.
Others congratulated the winners, wishing them the best for their future and hoping they are smart with the sum won in the takeout. Some even made fun of those who did not win the lottery.
A few were amazed by the sum the winner would be getting.
Even The Millennial Money Fix writer Douglas A. Boneparth hopped on the trend and joked about the winner needing him to manage the upcoming influx of cash. He tweeted:
How does the Mega Millions lottery work and what were the winning numbers?
To enter the lottery, participants have to guess a series of five numbers ranging between 1 and 100, additionally, they have to choose one number for the Mega Ball.
Contestants who match all the numbers win the grand prize. If there is more than one winner, then the prize money is distributed among them. However, smaller prizes can also be won by matching fewer numbers.
Matching one Mega Ball will win $2 while matching one number and one Mega Ball will provide $4.
Matching more numbers gets bigger prizes. Matching three numbers and a Mega Ball gives $200, while four numbers will earn the winner $500.
Additionally, matching four numbers and a Mega Ball will give $10,000 and matching five numbers will result in a prize of $1 million.
Friday night’s winning numbers are 13, 36, 45, 57 and 67 and a Mega Ball of 14.
Jackpot winners can cash out their prizes in two different ways. They can take the entire money home, which is estimated to be around $554.6 million after taxes. Or they can choose the annuity option, where their prize is divided into 30 annual payments, with each payment being 5% bigger than the last.
Mega Millions believes that the annuity method “helps protect winners’ lifestyle and purchasing power in periods of inflation." Additionally, it has been proven to be beneficial in terms of tax charges. According to Fox Business, the winner will get a total of $949.9 million over 29 years, if they choose to opt for the yearly payments.
