Winning Ticket For Mega Millions Jackpot Sold In New Jersey
(CBS News) — A winning ticket for a giant lottery jackpot estimated at $521 million has been sold in New Jersey. Mega Millions says one winning ticket was sold in Friday night's drawing. The winning numbers were 11, 28, 31, 46, 59 and Mega Ball 1.
The New Jersey Lottery said Saturday on Twitter that the winning ticket was sold at a Riverdale, Morris County, Lukoil station. Riverdale is in northeastern New Jersey, about 30 miles outside of New York City.
It's the nation's 10th-largest lottery jackpot. No one had matched all six numbers since January.
The $521 million figure refers to the annuity option, in which payments are made over 29 years. The cash option would pay $317 million.
Mega Millions drawings are held Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. Friday's Mega Millions drawing offered players a chance to spend $2 to try to correctly pick the correct number of five balls valued 1 to 70 and the number and a "Mega ball," numbered from 1 to 25.
Jackpot winners must match all six numbers in a drawing. Tuesday night, two winning tickets matched five of the numbers. Each of the winning ticket owners, from Illinois and New Jersey, won $1 million. Mega Millions can be played in 44 states, the District of Columbia and the U. S. Virgin Islands.
The odds of winning the over half a billion dollars in tonight's progressive jackpot were 302.5 million to one. For comparison, the odds of winning "scratchers" — those little instant winning tickets that you can buy for prices ranging from $1 to $50 — are better, but it's still no way to get rich.
(© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
