The Daily Populous Sunday December 29th, 2024 night edition
Authored by abcnews.go.com and submitted by panda-rampage

The winning ticket for the $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot has been sold in California, with the winner set to take home the fifth-largest prize ever.

The winning ticket was sold in Shasta County at the Circle K on 3505 Rhonda Road in Cottonwood, California, and matched all six numbers in Friday night's drawing.

The winning numbers were 3, 7, 37, 49, 55 and gold Mega Ball 6 and the cash value of the jackpot is estimated to be $549.7 million, according to the lottery.

Lottery tickets for the Mega Millions jackpot are seen in a store on Aug. 8, 2023 in New York. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images, FILE

No one has won the grand prize in the last 30 drawings, as the jackpot has ballooned. The last time the jackpot was won was at $810 million in Texas on Sept. 10.

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350, according to Mega Millions.

“Congratulations to our $1.22 billion jackpot winner from California,” said Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium. “What an amazing present this holiday season! At an incredibly special time of year, this is both an incredibly special moment for our winner, and for all the great organizations and causes that benefit from lottery ticket sales around the country. 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. Thank you and congratulations to all our winners.”

In total, there were more than 31.4 million winning tickets across all prize tiers during the 31-drawing run, which began after the last jackpot was won in Texas on Sept. 10 -- including 65 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more, won in 26 different jurisdictions from coast to coast, according to Mega Millions.

"It’s only the fourth Mega Millions jackpot won in 2024, and with only one more drawing this year, odds are that the year will end with the fewest jackpots won in any year since the game began in 2002," Mega Millions said following Friday's drawing. "In addition to the $810 million Texas win on September 10, a $552 million windfall went to an Illinois online player on June 4 (the largest lottery prize ever won with an online ticket purchase), and a huge $1.128 billion prize was won in New Jersey on March 26."

Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $2 for one play.

Loo-Hoo-Zuh-Er on December 28th, 2024 at 18:17 UTC »

That Circle K about to get a nice review.

4 stars: It made me a multi-millionaire, but the bathrooms could be cleaner.

PeetSquared41 on December 28th, 2024 at 18:08 UTC »

Imagine buying a ticket at that spot but not being the winner? I feel like that would hurt.

panda-rampage on December 28th, 2024 at 17:50 UTC »

The winning ticket for the $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot has been sold in California, with the winner set to take home the fifth-largest prize ever.

The winning ticket was sold in Shasta County at the Circle K on 3505 Rhonda Road in Cottonwood, California, and matched all six numbers in Friday night’s drawing.

The winning numbers were 3, 7, 37, 49, 55 and gold Mega Ball 6 and the cash value of the jackpot is estimated to be $549.7 million, according to the lottery.