A Mega Millions ticket holder in California woke up richer on Saturday after matching all six numbers in the lottery, winning an estimated $1.3 billion, the fifth largest jackpot in the game’s history. The winning ticket was sold in Cottonwood, California, about 200 miles north of San Francisco, during Friday’s drawing. The winning numbers were 3, 7, 37, 49, and 55, plus the gold Mega Ball 6.
This jackpot reached the $1.269 billion mark after no one matched all six numbers in the previous 30 drawings. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350. The largest ever U.S. lottery jackpot history was a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot won in November 2022 by a single ticket holder in California.
“What an amazing present this holiday season! At an incredibly special time of year, this is both an incredibly special moment for our winner,” said Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium.