A lucky lottery ticketholder in California holds the winning ticket from Friday night’s drawing for the $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot.
A winning ticket sold in Cottonwood, Calif., means a fine finish to the winner’s 2024 as the Mega Millions jackpot, estimated at $1.22 billion, has a cash option payout of $549.7 million, according to the lottery.
The winning of the fifth-largest Mega Millions jackpot in history comes in a year which had seen the least amount of jackpot winners in a calendar year, with only three jackpot winners so far. The last one was in Texas on Sept. 10, when a lucky person won a $552 million jackpot.
Friday’s drawing also yielded five $1 million winners, the lottery said.
“Congratulations to our $1.22 billion jackpot winner from California,” said Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, in a press release . “At an incredibly special time of year, this is both an incredibly special moment for our winner, and for all the great organizations and causes that benefit from lottery ticket sales around the country. Thank you to everyone who plays. Because of you, we have winners all around the country taking home cash prizes both big and small, and we have educational causes, parks and many other great organizations benefiting as well.”