The winning ticket was purchased at a Speedway gas station in Des Plaines, about a 20-mile drive northwest of Chicago, the Illinois Lottery said. Information about who bought the ticket was not immediately available Saturday morning.
If the holder chooses a cash payment option, the note will generate a one-time payment of an estimated $742.2 million. Otherwise, the award of approximately $1.28 billion will be distributed in annual payments.
“We are thrilled to have witnessed one of the largest jackpot wins in Mega Millions history,” Pat McDonald, chief executive officer of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a press release Saturday. “We can’t wait to find out who won and look forward to congratulating the winner soon.”
Friday night’s winning numbers were 13, 36, 45, 57, 67 and a Mega Ball of 14. The next drawing is Tuesday at 11pm ET.
A few other ticket holders also won some sizable prizes on Friday.
Twenty-six entries won a secondary prize of at least $1 million because they matched the first five numbers.
Six of the 26 tickets won $2 million because buyers not only matched the first five numbers, but also paid an extra $1 to activate the game’s “multiplier,” which increases non-jackpot prizes .
One of the 26 tickets, sold in California, did not have the multiplier but still won more than $4.2 million, according to state lottery officials. That’s because all awards in California must be based on sales and the number of winners instead of a fixed amount. All 20 “Match 5” winners without the multiplier were sold in California; Florida (two); Georgia (two); Illinois; Kentucky; Louisiana; Michigan; Minnesota (two); North Carolina (two); New Hampshire (two); New York; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; Texas (two); and Wisconsin. All six $2 million tickets were sold in Arizona; Florida (three); Iowa and Pennsylvania, according to Mega Millions. The jackpot had been growing since mid-April, when the jackpot was hit in consecutive draws on April 12th and April 15th. Since then, no ticket in the twice-weekly draws has matched all six numbers — which is tough. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350. The largest Mega Millions jackpot of $1.537 billion was won by a single ticket sold in South Carolina in 2018. This is the second largest prize for any US lottery game and the largest in the world. lottery prize won with just one ticket, according to Mega Millions.
The largest prize in any US lottery game was a $1.586 billion Powerball prize on January 13, 2016, shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.
The Mega Millions website on Friday night became inaccessible for several minutes after the drawing. Lottery jackpots start at $20 million and grow based on game sales and interest rates, according to its website.
Mega Millions tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, DC and the US Virgin Islands, where drawings are held on Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 PM ET. Tickets are sold online in Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia and DC, but the buyer must be in that state.
CNN’s Aya Elamroussi and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.