All I want for Christmas is $1.22bn: Mega Millions ticket matches all six numbers
All I want for Christmas is $1.22bn: Mega Millions ticket matches all six numbers
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Circle K in Cottonwood, California, where ticket was sold celebrates $1m bonus as winner remains unknown. The new year will ring in brightly for a lucky Mega Millions winner in California: after three months of the top lottery prize rolling over, a ticket worth $1.22bn matched all six numbers in Friday night’s drawing, according to the lottery’s website.
The winning ticket was sold at the Circle K in Cottonwood, a rural town of about 6,000 people roughly 145 miles (233km) north of Sacramento just off Interstate 5 in Shasta county. The winning numbers, including the Mega, were 3, 7, 37, 49, 55 and 6. Ishar Gill, a son of the store owner, said the winning ticket was “a blessing” for the small town. The identity of the winner or winners was not immediately known.
“We don’t have the slightest clue of who may have won it or who may have sold it,” Gill told the Associated Press. “But congratulations to the winner.”. The Circle K where the winning ticket was sold will earn a $1m bonus – the highest a California Lottery retail partner can earn, the Mega Millions website said.
“Well, it’s a giant win in a small town,” California Lottery spokesperson Carolyn Becker said in a statement. Two other California players matched five out of six numbers for prizes of $787,500 each. One was sold in Roseville and the other in San Bernardino.
The total amount of the Mega Millions jackpot would only be distributed to a winner who chooses an annuity paid over 29 years. Nearly all grand prize winners opt to take a cash payout, which for Friday night’s drawing is an estimated $549.7m. The state of California does not tax lottery winnings.
