WASHINGTON — After three months and 25 straight drawings without a winner, one lucky player in Maine will take home Friday's $1.35 billion jackpot, the fourth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.
The winning numbers for Friday, Jan. 13 were 30-43-45-46-61 and gold Mega Ball 14. According to the Maine Lottery, the ticket was sold in Lebanon, a town of less than 6,500 people in the southwestern corner of the state. The store, Hometown Gas & Grill, will receive a substantial selling bonus. The winner has not been identified.
Until Friday, no one had matched all six numbers and won the grand prize since Oct. 14. Those 25 straight drawings without a winner allowed the top prize to roll over and grow larger for three months — not surprising, given the game's 1 in 302.6 million odds.
“Congratulations to the Maine State Lottery, which has just won its first-ever Mega Millions jackpot," Pat McDonald, Ohio lottery director and lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement Saturday morning.
It was a big night for smaller winners, too. Fourteen players in California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas matched five numbers to win $1 million.
While Friday the 13th is superstitiously considered unlucky, Mega Millions says there have now been 7 wins on the date since the game began in 2002.
The $1.35 billion prize is for a winner who chooses an annuity with annual payments over 29 years. Winners almost always take the cash option, which for Friday night’s drawing would be an estimated $724.6 million.
The jackpot resets to $20 million for the next drawing on Tuesday night.
Friday's prize is the second-highest in Mega Millions history, topped only by the $1.537 billion jackpot won in October 2018.
Powerball is also tantalizing players with a growing jackpot, reaching $404 million for Saturday's drawing. The next two highest jackpot prizes belong to Powerball, at $2.04 billion and $1.586 billion.
What are the largest US lottery jackpots ever won?
1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 (one ticket, from California)
2. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)
3. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)
4. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)
5. $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)
6. $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)
7. $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)
8. $731.1 million, Powerball, Jan. 20, 2021 (one ticket, from Maryland)
9. $699.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 4, 2021 (one ticket, from California)
10. $687.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 27, 2018 (two tickets, from Iowa and New York)