Everything we know about $1.13B Mega Millions lottery ticket sold in New Jersey: Details revealed
The New Jersey lottery winner who came away with the $1.13 billion jackpot from Tuesday night’s drawing bought the life-changing Mega Millions ticket at a liquor store in Monmouth County, the lottery announced Wednesday.
The store, ShopRite Liquor, which is located on Route 66 in Neptune Township, was presented with a $30,000 bonus check for selling the winning ticket.
“It’s unbelievably exciting,” Richard Saker, president of the company that runs the Neptune Township ShopRite, told NJ Advance on Wednesday — adding that money from the lottery will be given to the ShopRite Partners in Caring Program, which supports 2,200 charities fighting hunger.
However, there was no immediate word on the identity of the new billionaire who purchased the ticket.
It was sold by Neptune Township mayor’s niece TiYahna Bambaata, who works part-time at the ShopRite store.
But she said the identity of the winner was a mystery to her as well.
“There was a few people coming in and out last night. I cannot remember who it was,” Bambaata, a college student, told NJ Advance Media.
She said she was thrilled that it might be someone who lives locally.
“It’s exciting. I’m happy that someone in my hometown (won),” she said.
Under New Jersey law, lottery winners are allowed to remain anonymous and the prizes can be claimed up to a year after the drawing.
“I don’t know who the winner is. We know where it was sold and when it was sold, but we don’t know who it was sold to,” James Carey, New Jersey Lottery executive director, said. “If you are the winner, I encourage you right now, sign the back of the ticket, take a picture of it, make a copy of it, and put it in a safe place.”
“Tell only your closest loved ones that you were this lucky winner and then I would urge you: go out and talk to a lawyer and maybe a financial adviser,” he added. “Talk to someone that’s a professional about what to do with your newfound wealth and how to handle it.”
“Nobody is used to going from being a regular person to a millionaire or a hundred-millionaire overnight,” said Carey.
The first jackpot of 2024 was captured Tuesday night after 30 straight weeks without a Mega Millions winner. It is the eighth-largest prize in US lottery history.
The winning numbers were 7, 11, 22, 29, 38, and the gold Mega ball 4.
The newly minted billionaire can receive the $1.13 billion in annual installments over 30 years, or a one-time lump sum estimated at $537.5 million.
There has not been a major Mega Millions winner since Dec. 8, when two tickets in California matched the numbers for the estimated $395 million jackpot.
News of the win shocked customers Wednesday at the ShopRite store, where the winning ticket was sold.
“Was the winner sold here? At this store?!” one shopper on her way in said, NJ Advance reported. “Oh, wow!”
The last time a Mega Millions jackpot-winning ticket was sold in the Garden State was back on July 24, 2020.
The unidentified winner snapped up the $123 million ticket in Bayonne, according to the lottery’s website.
Before Tuesday’s $1.13 billion drawing, Richard Wahl of Vernon held the record for the largest Mega Millions lottery win in New Jersey’s history, capturing a $533 million prize on March 30, 2018.
Wahl’s windfall is now only the 11th-largest in the lottery’s history.
The odds of winning the Mega Millions are a startling 1 in 302,575,350.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states plus Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands.
The next big lottery drawing will be Wednesday night for an estimated $865 million Powerball jackpot. No one has won that prize since New Year’s Day.
