The winning ticket for the over $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot ($1.537 billion in 30 annuity payments or a cash sum of almost $878 million) was just sold to a South Carolina resident about 1 1/2 hours south of Charlotte.
This is the largest lottery win in history and it almost quadruples the state’s previous Powerball jackpot record of $399 million.
BREAKING: One ticket in South Carolina has won the #MegaMillions jackpot of $1.6 billion. https://t.co/OVMqSMKTiO pic.twitter.com/kttsSxDBv6
— Mega Millions (@MegaMillionsUS) October 24, 2018
According to officials, the only winning ticket in the country was sold at the Circle K gas station on Garners Ferry Rd, Columbia, SC.
The winner’s identity was not revealed, and may never be known, as South Carolina is one of the only states in the country that allows lottery jackpot winners to remain anonymous.
The numbers for this week’s historic Mega Millions jackpot were 28, 70, 5, 62, 65, with a Mega Ball of 5 – the odds of winning the jackpot were 1 in 302,575,350.
The historic jackpot has been accumulating since July 24, after a group of 11 co-workers in California split a $543 million prize. Next Friday, the jackpot will reset to its starting value of $40 million, or about $22.8 million in cash.