• A winning ticket for the $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot was sold in California.

• The ticket was sold at Sunshine Food and Gas in Cottonwood, California, the California State Lottery said.

• The jackpot was the fifth largest in Mega Millions history.

A lucky Mega Millions player won an estimated $1.22 billion on Friday night, one of the largest jackpots in U.S. history.

The winning ticket was sold at Sunshine Food and Gas in Cottonwood, Northern California, the California state lottery said.

The winning numbers were 3, 7, 37, 49 and 55 and the golden Mega Ball number was 6. The identity of the winner is still unclear.

The winner has the option of receiving a lump sum of approximately $549.7 million or having the entire jackpot paid out over 30 years.

It was the fifth largest prize in Mega Millions history and the seventh Mega Millions jackpot to exceed the $1 billion threshold.

“Congratulations to our $1.22 billion jackpot winner from California,” Joshua Johnston, executive director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a press release. “What a great gift this holiday season! At an incredibly special time of year, this is a very special moment for both our winner and all the amazing organizations and charities that benefit from lottery ticket sales across the country.”

The jackpot was claimed after a series of 31 draws that began on September 10th when the last jackpot was won.

The largest US lottery jackpot ever was won in November 2022 when a man in California won the $2.04 billion Powerball. He was later named as Edwin Castro.

Last year, another ticket sold in California won one $1.765 billion Powerball Price. The California Lottery said a man named Theodorus Struyck came forward as a representative of a group that would split the winnings.

The Mega Millions jackpot has now been reset to $20 million ahead of the New Year’s Eve drawing.

According to the official website, the chance of winning the Mega Millions jackpot is approximately one in 302,575,350.

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