One lucky Californian is the state’s newest billionaire after winning numbers for the $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot were drawn Friday night.
The winning numbers were 3, 7, 37, 49, 55 and the Mega Ball number was 6. The Megaplier was 3X.
The winning ticket that hit all six numbers was sold at Sunshine Food and Gas located at 3505 Rhonda Rd. in Cottonwood, a city in Northern California. The winning jackpot was the fifth-largest in the game’s history.
Two other California tickets matched five numbers and will take home $787,543. The tickets were sold at:
- Cardenas Market – 2045 East Highland Ave., San Bernardino
- Chevron – 1400 Blue Oaks Blvd., Roseville
Lottery officials said that there were 842,839 other winning tickets drawn on Friday, with prizes that ranged from $2 to $9,487. Sales from the lottery raised an estimated $89.5 million for public schools across the state.
Friday night’s grand prize winner will have a big decision to make: take the annuity option or the cash payout. A lump sum payout would be an estimated $549.7 million after taxes.
If choosing the annuity option, the winner will receive a one-time payment, followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each time until they reach the total amount won.
The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot is about 1 in 302.6 million.
USA Mega, which tracks Mega Millions statistics, says the most common Mega Millions numbers are 10, 3, 17, 14 and 46 for the first five numbers. The most common Mega Ball number is 11.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Tickets are $2 and there are a total of nine ways to win a prize. Drawings are held every Tuesday and Friday at 8 p.m.
A map of where you can purchase lottery tickets in California can be found here.
