Updated: Added location where winning ticket was sold
By Todd Northrop
One winning ticket sold in The Hoosier State beat the odds and matched all the numbers drawn in Friday's Mega Millions drawing to win the colossal $540 million jackpot.
The numbers that single lottery ticket from Indiana matched in Friday's drawing were 8, 19, 20, 55, and 73, with Mega Ball number 5.
The winning ticket was purchased at the Speedway at 1589 N State Road 1 in Cambridge City, Indiana.
The lucky ticket holder will be the sole recipient of the third largest Mega Millions pot in history, and the seventh-biggest prize in U.S. lottery history, surpassing an August 2013 Powerball prize of $448.4 million, shared by a ticket from Minnesota and two tickets from New Jersey.
This is by far the largest lottery prize won in the state of Indiana. The previous record in the state was a $314.3 million Powerball jackpot won on Aug. 25, 2007, claimed by a retired auto worker and his 2 children.
This is the third top-10 jackpot so far in 2016. In January, there were three winning tickets for a $1.58 billion Powerball jackpot — by far the largest in history — and a group of eight players in New Jersey won a $429.6 million Powerball jackpot in May.
But perhaps even more important is the lump-sum cash option of $380 million, since most big winners claim the up-front cash rather than the annuity amount paid in 30 annual installments.
It's the fifth-largest cash value in U.S. lottery history, and the second-largest Mega Millions cash value ever awarded. If the winner chooses the cash payout option, it will be the largest cash payout to a single lottery ticket in history, surpassing the $370.9 million cash payout to Florida Powerball winner Gloria MacKenzie in May of 2013.
Besides Friday night's Mega Millions jackpot winner another 10 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 1 from Colorado, 1 from Connecticut, 1 from Florida, 1 from Kansas, 1 from Louisiana, 1 from Maryland, 1 from Massachusetts, 1 from Missouri, 1 from New Jersey, and 1 from Oklahoma.
Three of the second-prize winners — the tickets sold in Colorado, Florida, and Kansas — purchased their tickets with the Megaplier option for an extra $1 per play and doubled their prize to $2 million, because the Megaplier number drawn was 2.
The Megaplier option is not available in California, because the fixed nature of the prize increase offered with the Megaplier is not compatible with California's pari-mutuel payouts. By law, California awards all prizes on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning the prizes will change each drawing based on the number of tickets sold and the number of tickets that won at each prize level.
Another 200 tickets matched four of the first five numbers plus the Mega Ball to win a $5,000 prize. Of those tickets, 22 were purchased with the Megaplier option, increasing the prize to $10,000, and 24 were sold in California, where the prize is worth $6,264 this drawing.
The $540 million jackpot started building from its $15 million starting point on March 11. The jackpot run-up of a record 35 drawings produced more than 79.6 million winning tickets across all prize levels, including the one jackpot winner and 67 second-tier prizes of $1 million or more.
Mega Millions is currently offered for sale in 44 states, plus Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 pm Eastern Time. Tickets cost $1 each.
The Mega Millions winning numbers are published at USA Mega (www.usamega.com) minutes after the drawing takes place.
Congratulations to the Happy Winners
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Honestly, I could cry.
But I realize that eventually, it had to be somebody.
Mr. Groppo
(There, there Groppochini, there will be other drawings.)
Congratulations to the winner/winners.
If one individual claims this ticket and elects the cash option, wouldn't this be the largest lump sum payment for a single claim?
Congrats to the winner(s)! Thanks for now making this a fantastic time to win PB!
Gloria Mackenzie- $ 590 million
Well, if it rolls like this again then the next stop is November!
Looks like this time people started kicking in at around $400,000,000.
Note to conspiracy theorists there wasn't even a second prize in Michigan.
As for me I missed third prize (8,20,53,72,75 5) and got 10 bux.
Congrats to the winner and I hope they are an LP member.
I can't wait for my turn in about 3 or 4 years from now when the jackpot will be huge again.
Either MM will have to change its matrix or it will no longer be a game in the future. Poor sales, poor sales, poor sales.
Looked her info up, that's the jackpot amount, the cash value was 370.9..
Very tempted to drive to Indiana now and buy Powerball tickets. Indiana is now "Can't lose"
Looking at gross this is largest single-ticket cash.
However, technically Gloria would still come out on top in real $.
Florida has no state tax on lotto
Indiana has 3.4% tax, reducing prize to about $367.08 million before Federal
I checked the winners page on both MM & PB, doesn't appear to be much jack pot wins for indiana, so on that note I guess congrats are in order. I will revoke my congrats if the winner is from an often winning state.
I have not even checked my tickets yet!!
Congrats to the SINGLE TICKET winner!!!!!
You could be a WINNER!!
Indiana state tax knocks down the 380 cash value below Gloria's 370. Thus, she remains the undefeated champ by a close margin.
Taxes are not included as a determining factor of the largest cash payouts. If the cash option is selected by the winner, this indeed is the largest cash payout to a single ticket in history, beating the old record by around $100,000.
QP ..? OR their own pick ??
Congratulations on your (potential) win!
I wouldn't check them yet if I were you. Hide your tickets in a safe place and wait to see if there is any commotion in your area. This will allow you to dream what if....
well if you dont check it, you can still dream that its you! maybe in a month when they say the winner hasnt come forward, if you can hold iff that long... god luck It maybe you
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Ms. SaylorGirl,
If it was you, I don't know what to say, except 'NICE HIT!'.
If it was you, please realize that billions of folks wish they could be in your place.
I hope you do the right thing, and do the Lawyer and Financial Adviser thing.
Mr. Groppo
Congrats to the lucky winner in Indiana! Well, I guess here comes my break from playing lottery until the Mega gets $250mil again in 25 1/2 years or so... or until Powerball (expensive) gets to the $400 mil+ range.
I agree, might as well live in fantasyland a little longer!
I am pretty sure I will check them before a month is out, but might as well dream for awhile!
Have you checked yours??
Well, there is an address where the ticket was purchased...were you there?
Location where the winning ticket was sold has been added to the article. I won't repeat it, in case you don't want to know yet.
WTG to the ticket holder !!
Someone said that the person is Greedy?? Really? I call it pure blessings to purchase a ticket and be able to claim it. How is it greedy for that person? They beat the odds .
I'd say Congrats and move on in life.
You hope she does the right thing? the "right thing" after she consults with attorneys and financial experts is to relocate herself and her loved ones so they can enjoy their lives while keeping a safe distance from parasites who will harass them to no end for money. If she want to be charitable then it's her choice and no one else.
You want her to realize that billions of people could be in her shoes, I find that odd because there are just over 300 million Americans that reside here. I highly doubt the billion other folks who reside in places like China or the middle east heard anything or care who the winner is. I know from your previous post you are a major fan of redistribution of wealth so in that case the winner could give .10 cents to roughly 2 billion people so that takes care of doing the "right thing".
Congrats to the winner of that big ol jackpot! Wow! What a way to kick off the weekend! Going to want a few days to wrap their head around that number!
Oooh, ooh! Me next, me next! I want to know what that feels like!
Ahh posting, if you miss something the first time around, someone is
always there to add it on for you. I'm sure Mr Groppo's point was 'do
the right/first thing' everyone talks about...get advice and go from
there. Moving far away from moochers is also something entirely up
to the winner as much as being charitable is their option too.
And with that much money, being charitable is an option 10,000 times
over.
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Ms. Drenick1,
Well, not knowing her from Adam's house cat, I simply generalized
my congratulations along with what would be projected with her
new found fortune.
Please understand, have a bit more insight, and Good luck with your evening's PB!
And let's all be friends from now, on. (at least a "nodding acquaintance")
Mr. Groppo
(good for you, groppo, respond to them, nicely, but logically.
-should I re-edit and tell her "now put that in your pipe and smoke it" ?
-no, don't do that, you might upset Todd.)
If you like to cry when someone wins a lottery jackpot then you'll have many chances to do so.
Everyone buy your Powerball tickets tonight if you want one last chance at a bigger jackpot. Because MM was just won, PB's status is now at "impossible to lose"
If I did marketing for the lottery I'd probably count on people being ignorant or stupid and boast about the cash value being larger than any other single prize, while I continued to promote the almost-always-fictional annuity value. Of course even as a marketer for the lottery I'd probably know that players buy tickets in hopes actually getting some real money. With extremely few exceptions those who win significant prizes lose a significant amount to taxes, and net far less than the amounts trumpeted by shills for the lottery. As such, the only sensible metric for those of us who are smart enough to know the difference between real and imaginary amounts is how much a winner actually nets.
The cash value may be about $10 million more than the previous "record", but the net winnings may be almost $15 million smaller. If Gloria McKenzie paid 39.6% on her $370.9 million gross she would have netted a bit over $224 million. A single winner paying Indiana's modest income tax of 3.3% in addition to 39.6% federal taxes would see their take drop to about $217 million, but counties in Indiana also have an income tax. For Tipton County it's a hair under 2%, so that would take another $7.5 million, leaving the winner with bit under $210 million. At least that's enough to take the sting out of missing out on the bragging rights.
Congrats to the winner!
If you make a salary of $35,000 per year, I'm sure that's what you would tell someone who asks. You would not say, "I make $32,535 per year" or whatever your after-tax amount is. The money spent on taxes is YOUR money, but you're forced to give it to the government. It was not the government's money.
Way to go to the winner in my home state of indiana! Hope this atleast makes the QP teminals improve abit around the state lol
I noticed that California did not win the jackpot. Rumours about the lottery being fixed are just that "rumours".
We will see how smart the winner/winners are in how fast they cash in. Will they claim their fifteen minutes of fame?
I sure hope that it is Saylor Girl!!
I hope the winner steps forward and claims the cash value jackpot.
Well this year has certainly been all about that "8th of the month"....for the megamillions at least
Congratulations to the winner/winners
Well, drats that took care of that dream!! I never even heard of that city in Indiana! It was a fun dream while it lasted!
Thanks! Sorry to say it was not! But congratulations to the winner!
The winner now needs Asset Protection using wise counsel. I would first purchase Umbrella Insurance also called Excess Liability Coverage. Then ask your counsel about LLC's,Limited Liability Company. Place your Living revocable Trust inside the LLC box plus all your winnings. To cover the death tax you could purchase an ILIT, an Irrevocable living insurance trust.
To help co-ordinate all these professionals you hire you could ask your CFP, Certified Financial Planner to be that person.
Hire a Medical Doctor and have him/her do house calls. Hire mental health therapists. Hire money therapists. Money psychologists.
Now comes the fun part. Investing your wealth to earn more of a free cash flow. There are so many opportunities for this winner.
This winner's adventure has just begun!
Relax everyone!
Everybody knows that the first thing a major jackpot winner does is to contact "The Today Show".
We'll all find out everything at 7AM on Monday morning.
It is standard procedure for any major jackpot winner to fly to the Today Show in New York City before they claim their winnings at the lottery office. Everybody knows that there is no way the winning ticket will get lost or damaged on its way to The Today Show.
lol.......duh, which-way-did-they-go-George......
We bought some a couple of hours ago near the Casino (Powerball) in New Albany, IN. You watch that baby climb rapidly if no jackpot tonight and MM will just creep along. At this rate I'd take anything!
I see that Cambridge City is close to the Ohio border off I70; maybe it wasn't even an Indiana resident...time will tell!
At least that is what I told myself when I only won $2 last night.
Seriously, congratulations to the jackpot winner and everyone who even got a few bucks back!
What a joke !!
1 winner that really sucks that's why I wouldn't waste a buck on any of the big jackpots .
Who in the hellll needs l that kind of money when they could have how many millionaire 's .
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Mr./Ms. PickToWin,
I think many/most of us can relate to your frustration.
I often think I'm the most vulnerable, of anyone, anywhere.
But yeah, I agree. Especially, when there are potentially 7.3 billion people who were competing
for the prize. But, it happened. No one else duplicated the winning number, besides Indiana.
So, I too have had that sour feeling in my stomach since around 12:50am, this morning.
I didn't even want breakfast this morning.
I certainly don't need all that cash, only $1 million, but I had my month of dreaming.
It turns out I won absolutely nothing, zip, nada, niks (Dutch), tipota (Greek), meiyou (Chinese), asgjë (Albanian), rien (French), nichego (Russian), kitu (Swahili), ingenting (Norwegian), nani mo (Japanese).
Mr. Groppo
no win here.
I too was in disbelief for a couple hours
so I decided to mow the lawn instead. the yard never looked better
Congratulations to the lucky ticketholder or -holders, and good luck to those of you who hope to have similar success in lottery drawings tonight.
I was thinking the other way around. Highly unlikely for another multi-state jackpot hit in Indiana at least for another five years considering the size of the MM jackpot.
That's the big dream. To win it all by yourself! (Myself!!!)
many people need or want that kind of money....which is why the frenzy kicks in when the jackpot gets that big....
If you are mad that it does not get spread out more often...
I don't understand why people get their knickers all in a bunch about a single winner of a large sum...that IS the nature of the game --> many, one or none at all.
Congrats winner or winners (if it's a group), it's YOUR money now. Do with it what you will. Don't feel pressured to donate to charity just because people EXPECT you to do so, it's not a precondition to win AND the money you spend on your ticket is already set to go to a good cause in the state anyone of us buys a ticket....
Good night!
Want some cheese with that whine?
There also 7 people that won a million dollars. 3 won 2 million.
It's not about need. It's about winning money that takes care of yourself, your kids, and their kids for the rest of their lives.