A Mega Millions number selection card (stock image). Photo:
Tim Boyle/Bloomberg via Getty
One lucky player from Illinois has just taken home the latest Mega Millions jackpot win.
On Tuesday, March 25, a Mega Millions player purchased a ticket at a general store in Cortland worth $349 million, according to their press release. The prize is higher than the originally estimated amount and equates to a one-time payment of $161.4 million in cash.
The jackpot-winning ticket matched the Mega Millions numbers, plus Mega Ball 8, according to the Illinois Lottery.
Arizona Lottery said it’s the second time this year that someone has won the Mega Millions jackpot after a player in Arizona won a $112 million lottery prize ($49.95 million cash value) on Jan. 17.
Mega Millions tickets for sale in a vending machine in Chicago, Ill. (stock image). Scott Olson/Getty
But the latest life-changing win comes as Mega Millions shared that a new version of the game will launch on April 8 and will “feature bigger prizes at every non-jackpot prize tier, better odds to win the jackpot, better odds overall, larger starting jackpots, and faster-growing jackpots,” the organization said.
“Beyond big jackpots, players told us they want bigger non-jackpot prizes and that’s exactly what this new game delivers,” Joshua Johnston, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement.
“Players who had won $2 in the old game will now take home $10, $15, $20, $25 or $50 under this game. Those who had won $500 under the old rules will now take home $1,000; $1,500; $2,000; $2,500 or $5,000 in this new game,” he added. “Non-jackpot prizes at every level are going up by 2X to 10X. That’s the kind of value the new Mega Millions will deliver to our players at every single drawing.”
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According to Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot announcement, there were more than 8.8 million winning tickets across all prize tiers in the 19-drawing jackpot run — including 16 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more in 13 states.
