Someone in Florida wins $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot, third-largest lottery prize in US history

(NEXSTAR) — Someone in Florida won a $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot Tuesday night, ending a stretch of lottery futility that had lasted for nearly four months.

A Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach sold the winning ticket, according to the Florida Lottery.

The winning numbers drawn were: 13, 19, 20, 32, 33 and the yellow ball: 14.

Seven tickets around the country matched the five white balls to win the game’s second-tier prize. Two, sold in Florida and North Carolina, are worth $2 million because they included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 2X on Tuesday night. The other five tickets won the standard second-tier prize of $1 million. They were sold in California, Pennsylvania, Texas (two) and West Virginia.

Across the country, 166 tickets matched four white balls plus the Mega Ball to win the third-tier prize. Twenty-eight of those tickets are worth $20,000 each because they also included the optional Megaplier. The other 138 third-tier winning tickets are worth $10,000 each.

Before the big win Tuesday night, there had been 31 straight drawings since the last time someone won the game’s jackpot on April 18. After Friday’s drawing resulted in no winner, the current jackpot eclipsed a $1.537 billion prize won by a ticket in South Carolina five years ago to become the largest in the game’s history. 

Mega Millions jackpot winners are so rare thanks to odds of 1 in 302.6 million.

The largest lottery prizes in US history:

$2.04 billion (Powerball): Nov. 7, 2022; California

$1.586 billion (Powerball): Jan. 13, 2016; California, Florida, Tennessee

$1.58 billion (Mega Millions): Aug. 8, 2023

$1.537 billion (Mega Millions): Oct. 23, 2018; South Carolina

$1.348 billion (Mega Millions): Jan. 13, 2023; Maine

$1.337 billion (Mega Millions): July 29, 2022; Illinois

$1.08 billion (Powerball): July 19, 2023; California

$1.050 billion (Mega Millions): Jan. 22, 2021; Michigan 

$768.4 million (Powerball): March 27, 2019; Wisconsin

$758.7 million (Powerball): Aug. 23, 2017; Massachusetts

Should you be the lucky winner, you’ll be able to either take the cash lump sum payment or the annuity option, which offers one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that grow by 5% each time. Whichever you choose, you’ll still walk away with less than $1.58 billion.

You may want to think twice before collecting the cash option though. Winners of giant jackpots nearly always take the cash, and financial advisers say that might be a mistake.

The prize money is subject to federal taxes. Many states also tax lottery winnings.

You have a 1 in 24 chance of winning any prize while playing Mega Millions — because there are nine total ways to win — but your odds at landing the jackpot are 1 in 302.6 million.

The jackpot for the next drawing on Friday, Aug. 11, resets to its current starting value of $20 million ($9.9 million cash). Tickets start at $2 each and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.