Lottery News

A piece of eye-popping news for lottery players!

Two winners from Illinois come forward in a partnership to claim the mammoth $1.34 Billion Mega Millions jackpot, drawn in July 2022.

It was a single ticket that won the record making a $1.34 billion Mega Millions jackpot on July 29, 2022, but not one but two people stepped forward to claim it all. On Wednesday, the Illinois Lottery announced that the grand amount has officially been claimed, shared by two players, that agreed to split the winnings if won, and yes they kept their billion-dollar promise. 

As per the Illinois Lottery rules, winners of $250,000 and above can remain anonymous. Henceforth the winners chose not to give out their names, and it's much more likely that we will not be able to find out something about them anytime soon. The officials of the state lottery said, that it's absolutely surreal to award such a grand amount of money, knowing the impact it is going to make on the players' lives, and everyone close to them. Also, they mentioned that they can't share any information about the winners, but they'll surely be on top of the world after their win!

The two people who came forward claimed the prize just before the deadline which would have prevented them from claiming it as a cash option. Had they waited for long i.e. until September 27, 2022, they would have only left with the option to claim the prize as an annuity. In Illinois, Mega Millions winners get 365 days from the draw date to claim their prize, but only as an annuity. The prize can only be claimed as a lump sum amount within 60 days.

Over the past few days, the two winners have been busy working with a team of professional financial and legal advisors to prepare for the claim. 

The next Mega Millions draw is set to take place on Friday, September 23 at 11:00 pm EST for a jackpot of $301 million. Also, the Powerball lottery is not far behind in the race with a $270 million jackpot for the drawing to be held on Wednesday, September 24 at 10:59 pm EST.