Quick Pick ticket splits multi-million fortune between two players
By Kate Northrop
CHICAGO, Ill. — The winners of a $349 million Mega Millions jackpot are feeling "blessed" after they jointly came forward to claim the prize a month after the drawing.
After one month of wondering who was lucky enough to win the $349 million Mega Millions jackpot in the March 25 drawing, two Illinois residents have put the question to rest.
The prize will be split evenly between two anonymous Illinois winners, who have nicknamed themselves "Blessed" to maintain their privacy.
In Illinois, lottery winners of $250,000 and more have the right to submit a written statement to the Illinois Lottery to request that their name and city of residence be kept confidential from public disclosure, unless it is legally mandated to release the information.
Therefore, these two lucky individuals may indefinitely go on to enjoy their millions without the world watching.
Lottery Post maintains a list of every state's anonymity policies for lottery winners, and Lottery Post published a comprehensive video presentation about each state's anonymity laws.
The Illinois pair purchased their winning ticket at Casey's General Store on South Somonauk Road in Cortland. For selling the ticket, the retailer received a $500,000 bonus from the Lottery.
"We took a chance and bought a single Quick Pick ticket," the winners told the Lottery. "We're absolutely ecstatic and feel incredibly blessed. We plan to use this money to do good — this unbelievable prize will truly be the gift that keeps on giving."
The winning numbers in the March 25, 2025 Mega Millions drawing were 1, 5, 17, 39, and 62, with gold Mega Ball 8. The Megaplier number was 2.
The two winners opted to receive the jackpot as the cash option versus the full annuitized prize, the Illinois Lottery told Lottery Post. The estimated annuity and cash value prior to the drawing was originally $344 million and $159.1 million, respectively, however those actual amounts changed to reflect actual sales. The Mega Millions Media Team informed Lottery Post that the actual cash value for the prize turned out to be $161.4 million. (The final annuity prize was worth $349 million.)
According to USA Mega's Mega Millions Jackpot Analysis, the winners will receive about $93.7 million after all state and federal taxes are paid.
This is the fourth Mega Millions jackpot win for an Illinois player in nearly four years, the Lottery said in a press release. The last Mega Millions jackpot win in Illinois was in June 2024, when a player purchased a ticket online and won a $552 million jackpot — the largest prize ever won online in the United States.
This jackpot run culminating in a $349 million prize generated $24 million in total Mega Millions sales in Illinois, with the Lottery returning $9 million to the state to fund education.
The next Mega Millions drawing will take place on Friday, May 2 at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time for a $80 million jackpot.
Mega Millions is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $5 each.
The Mega Millions winning numbers are published at USA Mega (www.usamega.com) minutes after the drawing takes place.
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May they enjoy their new found wealth.
They give us the hope to keep on dreaming and who knows, one day that could be you or me.
Good luck all.
Congrats to them. Still not playing MegaMillions due to that ridiculous price of $5
Me too ..... I'm not jumping in until enough regulars make the jackpot big enough in my estimation to put down $5- on a ticket.
I'm sorry if it sounds greedy but I don't play for 2nd place prizes so there you go. Maybe I'll jump in at 250 mil ..... maybe not until 500 mil.
Sorry MM.
PS ..... Same goes for PB ..... tickets may be 2 to 3 dollars cheaper per ticket but they get you hooked on 3 drawings a week.
P.U.: What Stinx?
I'll tell you what stinx ..... no I had better not.
The Shag
* " l'll pick a star from the sky, pull lucky numbers from a quick pick, l promise you that, promise you that, promise you that...You'll be blessed..
Elton John. ( 1995)
Congratulations nice win. Why show your fingers on top of the check . People can steal fingerprints lol stay fully anonymous
Same. The thing about that is I have saved that money that would have been in the MM Consortium's pocket had they not jacked up the prices!
You probably aren't the only one.
Checking the jackpot increases.. MM is going up about $10m per draw.. cash increase about $4.5m per draw.
Powerball is doing better than that, and that has three draws per week.
and last night Megamillions ticket sales still 50% down from where they were before they raised the price to $5.00
I think what is happening is that there a dedicated bunch who buy Megamillions no matter the price of the ticket. In addition, a lot o people have just dropped out of Megamillions. Before the price increase,the larger the jackpot the more ticket sales every single draw. Until now. Now, the jackpot rises $10 million a draw consistently and that's it. Ticket sales are flat between 4.6 million and 5.0 million every draw. The larger jackpots are not enticing the buyers on the sidelines as they used to. That's what it looks like.
Too early to tell how this plays out, but there will be long stretches, statistically, where the jackpot is not won. if this keeps up. Very long stretches - maybe even 6 months.
I think what the folks at MM are watching the most is what happens when these huge jackpots show up. That is when they make most of their money, anyways, so all the complaining we are doing now when the JP is not huge is just noise to them.
"The larger jackpots are not enticing the buyers on the sidelines as they used to. That's what it looks like. "
I don't call US$90 m a "large" jackpot. The cash value ($40.4m) less tax isn't worth much more than $25m...Just after federal taxes.
Meanwhile EuroMillions is worth US$134 m.. after tax that is about US$78 (For an American. AS kiwi, it is worth US$124m to me, while the MM is worth only US$28.28m
The jackpot needs to get a lot higher.... Or maybe someone winning 2nd division gets a 10x multiplier.
2 winners the jackpot gets big why not spread the money round make it 100 winners nothing but a ripoff to have all that money for 2 people!
I'm so surprised this game still being raised every $10 million at this new structure. I would thought it actually would be ticket sales so low because no one playing that they would change the rules back to original game $1. They're getting so greedy. I can't believe the stupidity of America still spending $5 a ticket on a dream from Willy Wonka Golden ticket where people around the country are poor and jobs getting slash and the wealthy getting tax breaks. They should just go ahead a raise the ticket price to $100 a draw, why not stupidity of America still going to buy the tickets 🤷🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️. Now it does make sense to play $5 when it crosses 1.5 billion because mathematics odds probability and that's what they're betting on to make up for the early drop offs like me but it will probably take a half year and probably over 50 roll overs. It not worth it lottery officials. We hold the power. People stop BUYING so we can go back to normal. Good grief 🤦🏾♂️
I just buy 2 draws for the numbers I been playing for around 20 years. No extras!
There will never be large Mega Millions jackpots ever again. The cheats will make sure of that.
DOGE should investigate all lottery winners.