$522 Million Mega Millions Jackpot Won in California

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

A single ticket holder from California has won over half a billion dollars after matching all the numbers drawn in Mega Millions on Tuesday night. It was one of the biggest draws in history and had sparked a rush of excitement across the United States, following a run of 22 rollovers.

Wish Comes True For San Jose Store Owner

The winning numbers for the $522 million draw were 1, 2, 4, 19 and 29, with Mega Ball 20. The California Lottery announced that the only ticket to match the full winning line was sold in the state, and it was later revealed that it was bought at Ernie’s Liquors in San Jose.

The owner of Ernie’s Liquors, Kewal Sachdev, later told reporters that he did not know how to react to what had happened. “We were wishing and the wish came true today,” said Sachdev, who had been sleeping when he was called to be told of the news.

Sachdev has been working at the shop for 18 years and is delighted to think that customers might now flock to his store because they consider it to be lucky. The California Lottery also provides a retailer bonus of 0.5% to any shop that sells a winning ticket, up to a maximum of $1 million.

Sachdev will now wait with the rest of the world to find out more about the winner. It is the largest prize to have ever been won on a single ticket in California, and the fortunate player has a year to come forward and claim their money. They can decide to take the full $522 million as an annuity or the cash option of $308.1 million.

‘Jackpot Fever’ Fuels Fifth-Largest Prize

The jackpot had previously not been won since Friday 4th May, when the ABC XYZ Trust from Ohio landed $142 million. The sequence of rollovers had fuelled a sense of ‘jackpot fever’ ahead of Tuesday’s draw, according to the D.C. Lottery’s chief operating officer Tracey Cohen.

The top prize for the latest draw even had to be re-estimated a couple of times due to the high level of ticket sales since Friday night, when the jackpot was $433 million. If there had been another rollover, the record for the largest jackpot in history would have been under threat.

Instead, the latest win ranks as the fifth-biggest Mega Millions prize of all time. The record still belongs to the $656 million jackpot that was split by three players back in March 2012.

Biggest Wins

$656 million - Merle and Patricia Butler (Illinois), ‘The Three Amigos’ (Maryland) and an anonymous player from Kansas on 30th March 2012
$648 million - Ira Curry (Georgia) and Steve Tran (California) on 17th December 2013
$536 million - Warren D, LLC (Indiana) on 8th July 2016
$533 million - Richard Wahl (New Jersey) on 20th March 2018
$522 million - California winner on 24th July 2018

Become the Next Mega Millions Winner

Mega Millions offers lots of other ways to win, and over 3 million players picked up prizes in Tuesday’s draw. Eight ticket holders won in the second tier, and two of these participants - from Massachusetts and Texas - tripled their prize to $3 million because they had added the Megaplier option to their ticket. View a full breakdown of the latest results at the Mega Millions Numbers page.

The Mega Millions jackpot will now reset to $40 million for the next draw on Friday night, giving you another chance to become a big winner. If you fancy getting your hands on the jackpot, you can go to an authorised retailer in a participating state or pick numbers online.