Community Corner

Million-Dollar Winner In NJ As Mega Millions Jackpot Hits $868M

UPDATED: New Jersey has a big winning ticket as the Mega Millions jackpot nears $1 billion – a record.

New Jersey had a big winner Tuesday as the Mega Millions jackpot soared past its previous record, hitting an estimated $868 million, or $494.5 million cash. The New Jersey Lottery has released the ticket location.

The new record, which beat the previous mark of $656 million set on March 30, 2012, will be up for grabs on Friday, October 19. The jackpot comes after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night – the white balls 3, 45, 49, 61 and 69, plus the gold Mega Ball 9.

A $1 million winning ticket was purchased at 7-Eleven, 99 Ridgedale Ave., Cedar Knolls in Morris County. If that ticket had been purchased with the Megaplier option, the prize would be multiplied to $5,000,000.

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Seven tickets were also sold that matched four of the five white balls and the Gold Mega Ball drawn, winning the $10,000 third-tier prize. Two those tickets were purchased with the Megaplier option, multiplying the prize to $50,000. Those tickets were sold at the following locations:

  • Camden County ($50,000): Friendly Food Mart, 1119 North Blackhorse Pike, Blackwood;
  • Union County ($50,000): 7-Eleven #39571, 1174 Morris Ave., Union;
  • Essex County ($10,000): The Twin Deli Grocery, 185 North Park St., East Orange;
  • Hudson County ($10,000): Prime Place Convenience, 514 1st Street Unit #1, Hoboken;
  • Mercer County ($10,000): Corner Express, 5 Lawrenceville Pennington Rd., Lawrenceville;
  • Monmouth County ($10,000): Laurel Market, 257 Laurel Ave., West Keansburg; and
  • Ocean County ($10,000): 7-Eleven #11017, 260 Route 37 West, Toms River.

Nine tickets matched the five white balls to win the game’s second prize. One of them, sold in Texas, included the optional Megaplier and is worth $5 million.

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The other eight are $1 million-dollar tickets – two were sold in Pennsylvania and one each in California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey and New York.

The jackpot has been rolling since it was last won on July 24, when a California office pool of 11 co-workers shared $543 million, the largest prize ever won on a single ticket in the game, according to lottery officials.

Three other Mega Millions jackpots have been won this year – $451 million on January 5 (Florida), $533 million on March 30 (New Jersey), and $142 million on May 4 (Ohio).

There were plenty of winners Tuesday night as players from around the country jumped into the game at record levels. A total of 4,527,495 winning tickets at all prize levels came out of the Tuesday drawing.

One hundred tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball for the $10,000 third prize; 12 of those are actually worth $50,000 each because they included the optional Megaplier.

In this current jackpot run, there have been more than 22 million winning tickets at all prize levels, including 34 worth $1 million or more.

All New Jersey Lottery Mega Millions tickets must be purchased before 10:45 pm to participate in the drawing. Mega Millions tickets cost just $2; by adding the Megaplier option for an extra dollar per play, players can increase their non-jackpot winnings up to five times.

Mega Millions tickets are sold in 46 participating jurisdictions. Drawings are held on Tuesdays and Fridays.

View all New Jersey Lottery game winning numbers and drawings for the Pick-3, Pick-4, Jersey Cash 5, Pick-6, CASH4LIFE and 5 Card Cash games on the Lottery website (www.NJLottery.com) or on the official Lottery Facebook Page.

Evening draws, with the exception of CASH4LIFE and 5 Card Cash, can be seen on WPIX-TV (PIX11) in New York and WPHL-TV (PHL17) in Philadelphia. Powerball and Mega Millions drawings can be seen on WABC-TV or WTXF stations.

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