ILLINOIS — It’s been nearly a month since the $1 billion Mega Millions ticket was sold, but the winner still hasn’t claimed all of that money.
Americans watched for nearly a month as the Mega Millions jackpot grew to $1.34 billion.
After 29 consecutive drawings without a winner, a winning ticket was finally sold at a gas station in Des Plaines, Illinois.
But so far, no one has come forward with the golden ticket.
The Illinois lottery director says the winner has one year from the drawing date to claim the money, and since the amount is more than $250,000, the winner can choose to remain anonymous in Illinois.
Winners of prizes of $250,000 or more can choose to remain anonymous in Illinois, lottery officials said. Winners are encouraged to sign the back of their ticket, seek legal advice and call the Lottery Player Hotline at 18002521775 to make a private appointment to claim their prize.
What happens to unclaimed prizes? The Illinois Lottery regularly monitors and posts updates on its website. Here is a list of the state’s unclaimed jackpot prizes. If a jackpot prize is not claimed within the time limit, Mega Millions says that each state participating in the Mega Millions game will get back all the money that state contributed to the unclaimed jackpot.
Each state uses its unclaimed lottery prizes for different purposes. In Illinois, by law, proceeds from all Illinois Lottery games support public education, capital projects and other causes.
The $1.34 billion prize is for players who receive the annuity option, which makes 30 annual payments spread over 29 years.
Almost all jackpot winners choose the cash option, which is an estimated $747.2 million before taxes for this lucky winner.
The $1.34 billion jackpot was the second largest in Mega Millions history.
In 2018, a winning ticket was sold in South Carolina for a prize of $1.537 million. The US record prize is $1.586 billion for the January 2016 Powerball drawing.
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, DC and the US Virgin Islands.
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