A Mega Millions lottery ticket sold at a Shasta County gas station hit an estimated $1.22-billion jackpot Friday, officials said.
The ticket was sold at Sunshine Food and Gas, located at 3505 Rhonda Road in Cottonwood with the winning numbers 3-7-37-49-55 − 6 MegaBall, and 3x MegaPlier, the California Lottery announced. The identity of this new businessman was not yet known.
The jackpot winner will have the option of receiving their winnings in a series of payments over 30 years or as a lump sum cash payment of approximately $549.7 million. Winners usually take the cash option, according to lottery officials.
The jackpot is the fifth largest prize in Mega Millions history, and it comes at the end of the year with rare jackpot wins, according to the lottery. Before Friday night, the jackpot had been won just three times in 2024, the fewest wins in any one year since the game began in 2002.
“Congratulations to the winner of our $1.22-billion jackpot from California,” Joshua Johnston, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement. “What a wonderful gift this holiday season!”
The $1.22-billion jackpot has been growing since Sept. 10, when a player won the $810 million prize on a ticket sold at a gas station in Sugar Land, Texas. It's the seventh time the Mega Millions jackpot has surpassed the $1-billion mark.
Previous $6 billion jackpots have all been won in different states — South Carolina in 2018, Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine and Florida in 2023 and New Jersey in March, according to the lottery. The game's record $1.6 billion jackpot was won in Florida in 2023.
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