DES MOINES, Iowa –
A single ticket bought in a Chicago suburb beat the odds to win the $1.337 billion Mega Millions jackpot.
According to megamillions.com, there was one jackpot-winning ticket in Friday night’s drawing, and it was purchased at a Speedway gas station and convenience store in Des Plaines.
Winning numbers were: 13-36-45-57-67, Mega Ball: 14.
“We are thrilled to have witnessed one of the largest jackpot wins in Mega Millions history,” Ohio Lottery Director Pat McDonald, the current lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement on the lottery’s website. “We can’t wait to find out who won and look forward to congratulating the winner soon!”
The jackpot was the third largest lottery prize in the country. It got so big because no one had matched the six numbers picked in the April 15 game. That’s 29 consecutive draws without a jackpot winner.
Illinois Lottery officials put the winnings at $1.28 billion, but revised the number to $1.337 billion on Saturday.
The total prize is for winners who choose the annuity option paid annually over 29 years. Most winners choose the cash option, which for Friday night’s drawing was approximately $780.5 million.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million.
According to the Illinois Lottery, the store that sold the ticket was also a pretty big winner; will get half a million dollars just for selling the ticket. An employee at the Speedway store, who answered the phone but declined to give his name, said the store had not been officially notified that it had sold the winning ticket and that he learned of it from reporters who sought comment.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as in Washington, DC and the US Virgin Islands. The game is coordinated by state lotteries.
Illinois is among the states where winners of more than $250,000 can choose not to reveal their names, and Illinois Lottery spokeswoman Emilia Mazur said the majority of those winners are doing just that.
Even lottery officials may not know who won for a while because winners don’t have to come out right away. And the winning ticket may have been bought by a group of people.
“We won’t know if it’s an individual or the lottery until the winner shows up to claim their prize,” said National Mega Millions spokeswoman Danielle Freezee-Babb.
Emily Irwin, managing director, Advice & Planning, at Wells Fargo’s Wealth & Investment Management, said Friday that the winner should consider keeping a low profile and resisting eyebrow-raising spending that everyone knows the winner can’t do. allow yourself
“This is not the time to start calling everyone you know saying, ‘Hey, I have a big secret. Can you keep her?” Irwin said.
This is necessary to avoid being inundated with requests for money.
“There are scammers and others who go after big winners,” she said, acknowledging that sudden riches can put a lottery winner in physical danger.
“Privacy equals safety,” she said.
One thing the winner must do immediately is sign the ticket. This is because if the ticket is not signed, then it is not really yours. If the winner loses an unsigned ticket and another person finds it and signs it, the ticket now belongs to them.
Irwin suggests another step to survive a legal battle over ownership.
“Take a Polaroid of you holding it and (put it) in a safe or some other safe place,” she said.
Pratik Patel, head of family wealth strategies at BMO’s family office in Chicago, said the winner should work with a financial planner to map out their future.
“I would do a Monte Carlo market simulation,” Patel said, explaining that it’s an analysis of what the winner’s annual income might be and what the returns on various investments might be. “What you’re doing is using analytics to inform your spending.”
Frizzi-Babb agrees that talking to a financial planner is a good idea.
“I would suggest you do this before you’ve even set foot in a Lottery office,” the National Lottery spokesman said.
There’s also a question no one wants to answer at this particular moment: What happens to money when you die?
Irwin said don’t leave this unanswered; you must take action to ensure that the majority of your estate goes to your beneficiaries and not to the government.
“You need a manager who specializes in this and understands this world,” Patel said. “Someone making $60,000 a year may need a certain type of professional manager and may want to switch to someone who makes super wealth.”
Whatever the winner does, it’s important to do it slowly.
“You can absolutely indulge, but let’s be smart about it,” Patel said. “It’s a lot of money, but until you know what you can afford, there are still limitations.”
For example, he said, consider chartering a private jet before taking the plunge and buying one.
“You might be interested in owning your favorite basketball team,” he warned, “but maybe it’s not a good idea if it’s using up all your money.”
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