By Todd Northrop
One lucky Illinois lottery player is a whole lot happier today, after they won a Mega Millions jackpot worth an estimated $260 million Tuesday night.
It's the fourth time the Mega Millions jackpot has been won this year. Another Illinois player took home $265 million on January 16, and New Yorkers claimed back-to-back jackpots on February 27 ($127 million) and March 24 ($59 million).
Last night's jackpot win is the second-largest prize in Illinois Lottery history, and the ninth Mega Millions jackpot won by an Illinois player since Mega Millions began in 2002.
The lucky person, who has not yet claimed the prize, is the second Mega Millions jackpot winner from Illinois this year. The last jackpot was won by a self-proclaimed "regular Joe", who played a Quick Pick. (See Illinois man claims $265 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot, Lottery Post, Feb. 24, 2015.)
The winning numbers drawn Tuesday were 2, 9, 11, 22, and 23 with Mega Ball number 12. The Megaplier was 4.
In the same drawing, the wealth was really spread around, as a total of 14 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 1 from California, 1 from Georgia, 1 from Kentucky, 1 from Minnesota, 1 from New Jersey, 2 from New York, 1 from North Carolina, 1 from Pennsylvania, 1 from Texas, 3 from Virginia, and 1 from Washington.
Sadly, none of those 14 players added the Megaplier for an extra $1, which would have boosted their win to a whopping $4 million cash. Still, $1 million is no chump change.
The California second-prize winner won $697,111 because by law California awards all lottery prizes using a pari-mutuel formula, a calculation based on the number of tickets sold and the number of people who won.
The $260 million jackpot started building from its $15 million starting point on March 27.
The jackpot has a cash value of $158.5 million, or $112.9 million after tax withholdings. The overall odds of winning the jackpot were 1 in 258,890,850.
The Illinois winner has a year to come forward.
Congrats to the winner. Hopefully it is someone who really needs it.
on a side note - "Lottery gods, how about the next big winner coming from Washington state!" Haha
Looks like someone may have been thinking about the tragic day of 9 11 and the winning numbers highest digit was 23.
An amazing win congrats to the lucky winner.
Congratulations to all the winners. 15 tickets with the same white balls-great.
Not surprising, I don't think there has ever been a loss in PB or MM history anytime extreme, extreme, extreme low numbers have been drawn.
I still want to see 1-2-3-4-5 & 1 drawn so we can see 100,000+ JP winners. LOL
That is a very odd pick of numbers, if you have an open mind, Go check out this video
You gotta be kidding, who actually plays those numbers?
Soon as I seen the Birthday numbers, I knew it was probably gone.
Congrats to the Lucky winner.
That's why it would be hilarious to see a 75 number matrix ranging from 32 - 107 LOL
Many thousands of players play those numbers religiously because they have a much higher probability of winning than the other numbers because they are birthday numbers and very extreme low numbers.
SEE
It's fixed Illinois always wins LOL
At least it is one ticket ........... I hope it is one person ..........
No one has even spoken a word about that. On another note, I thought mocking others wasn't allowed here. Guess that only applies to certain people here.
I thought the same thing.
14 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 1 from California, 1 from Georgia, 1 from Kentucky, 1 from Minnesota, 1 from New Jersey, 2 from New York, 1 from North Carolina, 1 from Pennsylvania, 1 from Texas, 3 from Virginia, and 1 from Washington: If you live in one of these States: Check your Tickets for a Second Place Win!
Congratulations to the winner/s
Yep so did I....
Yah for a win for Illinois, but the winner is likely another Hispanic person. Before there is an uproar of racism here, it should be noted that the store where the winning ticket was purchased is a Hispanic run store in an area where a lot of Hispanic people reside.
If the winning ticket had been purchased in Glencoe, I would have said that one of those really rich families have won more money that they perhaps don't need like a middle or lower income resident needs. Not being racist. Just speaking factually based upon demographics of Chicago neighborhoods. And for those who think I am being politically incorrect, Chicago is one of the most segregated cities in the US. So don't blame me for speaking the facts.
Hope it's not one of those guys who don't check their tickets.
I'd
if it was someone who was like that
The same people who have "12345" as their password.
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Is NOT the one from Texas that had 5 numbers
That's OK, just wasn't my time YET
The one in Tx was bought in Houston. HOUSTON!
DANG IT. HOUSTON ALWAYS WINS. CASH 5. MM. PB. SCRATCH OFFS.
EVERYTHING.
pickone4m3,
but some here don't. 
re: 1 2 3 4 5 1
Who actually plays those numbers? Thousands.
OldSchoolPa,
I was thinking it had to be a Hispanic, too - from the name of the retailer from the MM website:
The winner, who has yet to come forward, purchased their winning ticket at Super Mercado Imelda, 13036 South Western Avenue and matched all six numbers - 02 - 09 - 11 - 22 - 23 - (12) - to win the $260,000,000 jackpot in the Tuesday, June 2 Mega Millions drawing. The retailer will receive a $500,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
_____________________________________________
For the "Illinois always wins crowd", gee I thought it was CA and NY.
To dpoly1, I know you were joking
Congrats to the winner! I played most of those numbers just two weeks ago!!! Feeling kind of bummed out.
Was the winner a QP?
My remarks are simply commentary on the many ridiculous remarks that have been made here over the years ..................
What would life be like without a little levity LOL
Houston! Dagnabit!
I started to mock that video you posted, but was too depressed when I realized that I wasted my time watching it and that it was 8 precious minutes out of my life I'd never get back.
Congratulation to the Illinois winner. Can't wait to find out if it one person or a group.
What ridiculous remarks would those be?