UPDATE: Final jackpot amount announced — $543 million
By Todd Northrop
A winning ticket to the 11th-largest U.S. lottery prize ever was sold at a liquor store in San Jose, California.
The ticket matched all six numbers drawn — 1, 2, 4, 19, and 29, with Mega Ball number 20. The Megaplier was 3.
The winning ticket was sold at Ernie's Liquors , located at 2808 S White Rd. in San Jose.
The winner will receive an estimated $543 million, which is the 3rd-largest jackpot in the history of Mega Millions, and the 9th-largest jackpot ever in US lottery history. If the winner chooses the lump-sum cash payout, they will receive an estimated $320.5 million in cash, minus federal taxes. (California does not apply state tax to lottery winnings.)
The sum had been multiplying rapidly since the last time it was won on May 4. It hit $375 million on July 14 and $493 million on Saturday.
"This has been an exciting roll," said Gordon Medenica, Mega Millions lead director. "Congratulations to California for taking home the fifth largest jackpot in Mega Millions history."
Kewal Sachdev, 65, the owner of Ernie's Liquors, was at his San Jose home taking a nap when an employee called him with the news that the store had sold a winning ticket.
He was stunned. Nothing like it has happened in the 18 years he has owned the store.
"We were wishing," he said in an interview at his store. "And the wish came true today.'
"I'm still digesting what happened," he added. "I don't know at this time how to react."
Sachdev said word that a winning ticket was purchased at his store will be good for business.
"People are going to think this is a lucky store," he said.
The store sold as many as 4,000 tickets ahead of the most recent drawing, which wasn't much considering the size of the jackpot, Sachdev said. Lotto fever just didn't seem to take hold this time.
Sachdev said he has heard the store that sells the winning ticket receives half a percent of the jackpot, which in this case would amount to the princely sum of $2.6 million.
"I'm processing the whole thing," he said. "In a couple of days, we'll figure out what happened and what to do about it."
John Nguyen, 35, of San Jose, heard the news and drove over to check out Ernie's Liquors. He plays the lottery every week, but he has never purchased a ticket from Sachdev's store.
"Most definitely," he said when asked if he was going to change things up. "I'll try it."
Nguyen also had a message for the new half-billionaire.
"The winner is going to need a financial adviser. And I am one," he said. "So they can call me."
Eight other tickets matched the five white balls to win the game's second prize, six worth $1 million each, and two that included the optional Megaplier and are worth $3 million each: 1 from Arizona, 2 from Massachusetts (1 with Megaplier), 1 from Michigan, 1 from Minnesota, 2 from New Jersey, and 1 from Texas (with Megaplier).
Another 102 tickets matched four of the first five numbers plus the Mega Ball to win a $10,000 prize. Of those tickets, 9 were purchased with the Megaplier option, increasing the prize to $30,000, and 5 were sold in California, where the prize was worth $22,437 this drawing.
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.
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 $2 each.
With the jackpot have been won last night, the Mega Millions jackpot resets to its starting value of $40 million for the next drawing on Friday.
The Mega Millions winning numbers are published at USA Mega (www.usamega.com) minutes after the drawing takes place.
UPDATE
This article has been updated to reflect the final annuity and cash value amounts after all proceeds were counted Wednesday.
You Can Win A Lottery Jackpot Using Birthday Numbers.
Don't tell us you went to grab a Dr. Pepper. Lol
Congrats to the lucky ticket purchaser(s)... Enjoy your new found wealth and be careful.
Good for the winner or winners.
And good for the return to sanity.
As I went looking on the play slip, something told me to play singles last night. <snip>. The last time that happened was about a month ago when 4 single digits were drawn. omg. Now once again. Maybe I need to trust my insticts.
As the old saying goes, go with your gut feeling.
Dionne Warwick singing 'Do you know the way to San Jose?' came to mind when I heard where it was sold.
Go West!
No matter how many owners of the ticket there are be safe. Personal security is a top priority. Copy what Marvin & Mae Acosta from Chino Hills, CA did. We now know only their names and that they moved out of their home a day before claiming. They made the decision to move out after six months passed. They won 1/3 of the record PB jackpot of $1.5 billion U.S. dollars. We have no idea where they are today.
Please say NO to the media availability and the celebrity photo.
This Megamillion run was exciting and informative.
This isnt the first big lottery ticket sold in San Jose.
We should have pooled our money and bought all 4,247,775 "birthday combos".
Cheer up mates...
powerball is still $63,000,000 and change after fed and state...
at least in NC anyways... %29.499 anything over $5,000
Here we go again i told my friend it was going to be California this time and i was right ..
TOP 5 winning lottery states
California
New York
New jersey
Pennsylvania.
Florida.
Congratulations to the winner/s
Most of those states also have the highest number of player in general. So you know the more people in a state that play the higher their chance of winning will be. I had told someone that Tenn wouldn't win because they used up all their luck with that 1.6 Billion .....obviously California doesn't apply to that lol. I don't remember who it was but they always come here and say that the winner is always from a state near a large body of water. Congrats to all and see you in a few weeks. ppm signing off
Knew it had to climb higher, just watched about 30 seconds of the CA lottery announcement on FB said it went up to $543 million.
Now it's Powerball turn to start climbing and that it will.
Those states should really have their own MUSL and no longer be a part of MM or PB.
It would be crazy though with hundreds of thousands of jackpot winners each drawing just splitting $10 or $20 between each other lol
Bleudog101, Oh No! We have to go through this again with PB.
Thank You for telling us about the CA lottery announcement on FaceBook.
I am surprised that MM was won by only one ticket. Birthday numbers did us in. It is possible the winning ticket was part of a pool.
Keep on dreaming!
There's a thread somewhere in the archives on LP about Indiana having the most winners, don't know if it was MM or PB.
One of those wins was $536M, 7 -8 2016
http://www.megamillions.com/winners-gallery/indiana-family-claims-huge-jackpot
I think most of those wins came in a cluster that's why it's not often referenced.
Yes, Indiana holds the top honor!!! I don't know why I even buy tickets here it is just so easy to win!! LOL!
The article has been updated to reflect the final annuity ($543 million) and cash value ($320.5 million) after all proceeds were counted Wednesday.
The revised amounts up the rankings of this jackpot to the 3rd-largest Mega Millions jackpot of all time, and the 9th-largest US lottery jackpot ever. The cash value remains the 12th-largest in US history (and the 5th-largest Mega Millions cash value).
1 In 4 Million Is Better Than 1 In 300 Million.
I wonder, does the jackpot earn interest while it is waiting to be claimed?
And if not, why not? We're not talking chump change here.
first they have to collect it all from the participating states. takes a couple of weeks. it really cannot be invested anywhere until the winner claims it which is usually before they even have it.
Did l call it, or did l call it for?
Good call!
We hereby dub thee LP's Amazing Kreskin!
Sure do...Florida won a million and it jumped up to what I forget already...too early.
Saw on FB that MA winner with Megaplier--$3 million already claimed his prize. Talk about not wasting time, name, face, and town plastered for all to see...not wise IMO.
$3,000,000.00 before taxes is a decent prize. It could last for a long time. Investing in a home would be my first choice. Go on, My Lottery Dream Home, on HGTV.
When I saw the FB MA lottery post with his picture getting the check all I could think about was someone burying their spouse and before the body is even cold, dating again.
Why didn’t this winner buy Powerball tickets too?
They would have won $150 million last night on top of that $500+ mil for MM.
That happened once with a Powerball winner. Separated from husband but not divorced when she won. They divorced but he got half her winnings. tv. They all big jackpots this one was well bigger than most.
If NY, NJ, CA, FL remove themselves from the MUSL, kiss massive jackpots goodbye JJ. Your ill advice is not recommended.
Where is your proof that said winner(s) did not purchase a losing ticket for Powerball last night?
You've got that right, noise-gate. The heat must be getting to folks thought process.
I will say one thing though, Lucky 4 Life (CT) and Cash 4 Life(NJ) are in multiple states and not part of MUSL.
Poor store owner is going to be disappointed when he finds out he only gets a million bucks.
It's still a million bucks, but it's not 2.7 million.
Retailer Bonus: 1/2 of 1% of the prize value for selling a winning ticket resulting in a prize payment of $1 million or more. Maximum bonus is $1 million
above is from the California Lottery page that I can't link to.
I keep seeing places get this bonus thing wrong everywhere.
I just heard the winner(s) might be winning more on this jackpot.
At least hes getting something. some places don't get nothing. If I were to hit more those jackpots I would make an offer to a store owner
" Poor store owner is going to be disappointed when he finds out he only gets a million bucks.
How can the store owner be poor, if he ends up with a million bucks? He/she didn't have to " work" for it. All the clerk did was issue a QP or the person handed the play-slip over. In any case- both acts were effortless.
Yes, it went up by another $21 mil.
$543 Million
$320.5 Million lump sum
$201,915,000 after paying federal taxes.
It would have been literally impossible for them to purchase a losing ticket.
No, you’d see way larger jackpots because MM and PB would roll like crazy due to a lack of winners.
If you're nothing else, you're consistent.
jj,
Exactly what do you think advances the jackpots?
The more money that comes in the higher the jackpot. There's no such thing as a lock but the smart money says you're the only one on LP that doesn't know this.
Eliminate the states that pour the most money in and guess what happens.
PS
Since it's so easy to win play Mega Millions Friday the 27th,everyone is waiting for the San Jose winner to claim so $40M would be a good jackpot to hit.
If jj (or anyone else) doesn't want the $40 mil Mega jackpot tonight, I'll take it!
It will be that many more millions of dollars than i have now!
Bring it on
Those states don’t advance jackpots, they stop jackpots from rolling because it’s way too easy to win in those states. Sure jackpots will build more slowly but they will build to astronomical amounts. I live in Missouri and it’s REALLY hard to win in this state.
Saylorgirl...you are so right on that one. You know as well as I that occasionally the Indiana Lottery will advertise the fact that they have had the most Powerball JACKPOT winners...the big one, then any other state.
Will we still be friends when I hit your lottery? Still have a few weeks to go on MM & PB both with their respective multipliers.
Seriously though, was thinking if my MM ticket had won that $543 million on my Season Ticket from Massachusetts, would they announce that a Season Ticket from Simpsonville, KY won?
To me that is a scary thought.
Yesterday the corrected Mass Cash tickets came via UPS!
I think the only true answer is that the jackpots would take longer to win if those states were eliminated but they would also take longer to reach a certain amount in which more than the usual person buys in. Meaning that if you eliminated those states the jackpots would still be won once they reached....in this case $540 Million. So all in all nothing changes. Instead of taking 2 months from a previous win to reach an "astronomical amount" it might take 3 months. Players like myself will still on play when it reach say 300M or so. Also I wouldn't say its way to easy to win in those states because in that case it would never make it past 100M with someone winning. The fact that those states win the most is simple because they have the largest population of players contributing in the pools which is exactly how probability works. Nothing more nothing less.
yep. lol
congrats.
my father says, i keep my sanity by NOT fallin for the rigged pb and mm meaning him lol
Then he be like, "CASSIE, stay away from it," its rigged and plus, you're doing well each year with pick 4 and three winning much in months at times
so stay away from the more "'rigged one" lol
he think its rigged predicated upon, why can't 100 or more people win if over 100 million?
why not, why only "1" when its clear even 100 people win 1 million each OR even a $
Quarter of a million or even 4#s but he say its all rigged.
the pb and mm. so i do not play it much this one but i did buy only 1 or 2.
Congrats again.
it cannot possibly matter what state you live in. if california sells 20 times more tickets than missouri then the probability is that they will have 20 winners to missouri's 1. that's it, in a nutshell. you pick 5 + 1 numbers in missouri or bangladesh as long as they are the correct ones you win.
Yep exactly......it's simply a matter of probability.
Then there is the flip side of living in one of those top 5 states and hearing winner from FL, winner from FL, winner from FL but it's never you. Bottom line is, the odds are so high MM is now averaging 6 jackpots a year.
of course it's never going to be you. but the 2nd place prizes are fairly decent. if you are happy with a paltry million or two i'd keep playing, but play every drawing not just when the pie in the sky jackpot is near record levels.
OK jj do tell us your theory of what increases jackpots. This should be good.
Congratulations to the jackpot winner. I hope the winner chooses the cash option!
True Redd55. There was a huge jackpot winner from the South Bay a couple of years ago. Asian gentlemen if l am not mistaken. Would not be surprised if this winner is one as well.Then there was that winner from San Bruno or San Mateo that " collected quarters & dimes" in order to play the jp a few years ago, and he won big as well. Not good with names, but there it is.
PB and MM have a "business plan", so to speak, that depends on a large number of ticket sales when the jackpot gets to a large number. If you reduce the states that play down to a fraction of what it is today, they will have to change the rules in order to make the same % on each ticket.
Here is how to understand why... (for PB, anyway, basically the same thing)... the jackpot starts at $40 million. If the jackpot is not won, it increases by the greater of $10 million, or 32.5% of ticket sales.
After a jackpot is won, ticket sales drop to a trickle. This is why the jackpot goes $40 million, $50 million, $60 million, and then around that range it starts to increase by more than $10 million.
Now, let us suppose that we remove the large population states from playing but leave the rules the same to see what happens. And to make it easy to understand, let's say that only people who live in Loving County, TX can play PB. The population is a mere 134 people (second least populous county in the U.S. besides Kalawao County, Hawaii). Let us also assume that most of them don't play at all (kids, poor people who spend their money on food instead of lottery tickets, etc.) Let's just make it a simple three people play each drawing, one ticket each. It makes the math easier.
With only 3 tickets purchased for each drawing, 32.5% of ticket sales is $1.95. One nickel less than two dollars. Clearly, the jackpot will always increase by exactly $10 million, because 32.5% of ticket sales is practically zero, not more than $10 million like it is today with millions of people playing.
The initial jackpot for this new "few people playing PB game" is $40 million. With 3 tickets sold per drawing, in a game with a 1 in 300 million chance of winning, there is a 1 in 100 million chance that someone will win in one drawing. With two drawings per week, that is a 1 in 50 million chance that someone wins in a week, or 1 in 1 million chance that someone wins in an entire YEAR.
Clearly, the jackpot is going to increase by $10 million many, many times before someone finally wins. On average, this will take one million years (100 million drawings). What will the average jackpot be? 100 million drawings times $10 million per (plus the initial $40 million which is roundoff error at this point), is one thousand TRILLION dollars. Granted, the lottery has collected a lot of money along the way, namely $2 times 300 million tickets, which is $600 million. Even if we assume that no one ever wins any lower prize, the lottery is still going to be short by a tremendous amount of money... one thousand trillion minus 600 million is approximately one thousand trillion. The $600 million is a drop in the bucket.
So, the effect of removing large population states but without changing the rules of PB, while not ridiculous like my example, will result in PB making less money. The fewer people that play, the less money PB makes. At some point, decreased player count crosses the line of profitability into negative territory, at which point it becomes a player's advantage (in my "few people playing PB game", it becomes a player's advantage when no one wins after about 60 drawings, which is virtually guaranteed to happen when only three people play because it is so unlikely that someone wins).
A multi-state game with low population states can work, but you have to change the rules accordingly, or it becomes a player's advantage (which means no chance of happening). The initial jackpot and minimum jackpot increase has to be less, and correspondingly the probability of one ticket winning has to increase, in order for the state to continue making a 50% profit.
So, if you want to donate money to the government, play the awful game of PB or MM. If you don't want to donate money to the government, keep your money and don't play.
PB and MM, to me, just make no sense now with their absurdly low chance of winning. The ticket sales are a trickle most of the time, and occasionally a massive roar. It's just stupid IMHO. Make a normal game with a reasonably low chance of winning a reasonably large amount of money, instead of this absurdly low chance of winning an occasionally absurdly large amount of money.
There actually is a way for players to force this to happen: refuse to play PB until the jackpot reaches $2 billion. In other words, the jackpot goes $40 million, $50 million, $60 million, ... $1.970 billion, $1.980 billion, $1.990 billion, then $2.000 billion, then whatever, and then someone wins. But PB will not have $2 billion to give away because no one played for 196 drawings in a row (98 weeks, or just under two years).
That's right... in two years we can destroy PB and force them to change their stupid ways. But I know that won't happen. People play it anyway. Having everyone agree not to play for 196 drawings would be more difficult than herding cats.