Winning lottery numbers: $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot ticket sold

correction

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the Megaplier number was 14. It was the Mega Ball that was 14. The story has been corrected.

Someone won the estimated $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot Tuesday night, the largest Mega Millions jackpot ever.

The winning numbers were 13, 19, 20, 32, 33, and the Mega Ball was 14. The winning ticket was sold in Florida, according to Mega Millions.

The winner can walk away with a lump-sum cash option of $783.3 million, which jackpot winners almost always opt for, or choose to be paid through an annuity, with payments over 30 years. Experts say that winners should talk to financial advisers and lawyers to ensure they are making the best decisions with the winning amount.

Lottery winners put themselves in the nation’s highest income-tax bracket of between 35 percent and 37 percent, because the IRS treats lottery winnings as ordinary income.

Before Tuesday, there had been 31 straight draws without a Mega Millions jackpot winner. That most recent grand prize, for a $20 million pot, was drawn April 18, according to Mega Millions.

Advertisement

Before Tuesday’s record win, the largest Mega Millions jackpot had been $1.537 billion, won in October 2018.

But this is not the largest lottery jackpot in recent times. The winning ticket for a Powerball jackpot in November was $2.04 billion.

Billion-dollar jackpots are coming more frequently because lotto companies have engineered lower odds for the games, experts say.

How likely are you to win the lottery?

Mega Millions tweaked the rules of its game in 2017, according to its website, upping the starting jackpot from $15 million to $40 million and increasing the ticket price from $1 to $2. It lengthened the odds of winning the top prize from 1 in 258,890,850 to 1 in 302,575,350, The Washington Post reported.

At that time, the largest Mega Millions jackpot had been a $656 million prize — split three ways — in 2012. Its five billion-dollar jackpots have come since the 2017 change, Mega Millions says.

Advertisement

The last time the Mega Millions jackpot crested $1 billion was in January, when an investment group claimed the $1.348 billion ($723.5 million cash) prize in Maine.

Tickets are sold in 45 states, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $2 each. In most jurisdictions, players can add the Megaplier for an additional $1 to multiply their non-jackpot prizes.

Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLuiwMiopWhqYGeAcHyXaGdyZ52atKJ5zKKjpaGfo8ButsCcoqmnpGLEqrrNnqlmmpmhuaq7zWg%3D