Single ticket in Georgia wins $980M Mega Millions jackpot, eighth largest in game’s history

A single Mega Millions ticket sold in Georgia has won the $980 million jackpot in the Nov. 14 drawing, marking the fifth time the grand prize has been hit this year and the largest jackpot ever won in the month of November, lottery officials announced.

The winning numbers were 1, 8, 11, 12, 57, and the gold Mega Ball 7. The jackpot carries a cash value of $452.2 million. It is also the largest Mega Millions jackpot ever won in Georgia and the state’s first since November 2016.

“$980 million is the largest jackpot that’s been won since the Mega Millions game changed back in April,” said Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium. “Congratulations to our big winner from Georgia and to all our players who are winning more than ever with this new version of the game.”

The jackpot had been growing since June 27, when a $348 million prize was won in Virginia. Over the 40 drawings that followed — the longest jackpot roll in Mega Millions history — nearly 14.3 million winning tickets were sold across all prize tiers, totaling $343.4 million in non-jackpot winnings. That run included 21 second-tier prizes of $2 million or more, won in 14 states including New Jersey, New York, Texas and California.

Additionally, 347 third-tier prizes ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 were won in 40 jurisdictions nationwide. These included winners in states such as Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

In the Nov. 14 drawing alone, more than 1.1 million tickets won prizes, in addition to the jackpot winner. One ticket sold in Michigan matched all five white balls to win $3 million with the 3X Megaplier. Another 48 tickets won the third-tier prize by matching four white balls plus the Mega Ball, with winnings boosted by Megaplier multipliers ranging from 2X to 10X.

Friday’s jackpot is the largest since the $1.269 billion Mega Millions prize awarded in California last December. Earlier jackpots this year were claimed in Arizona, Illinois, Ohio and Virginia.

The Mega Millions jackpot now resets to $50 million — or $23.1 million in cash — for the next drawing on Tuesday, Nov. 18.

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