There's a winner! Ticket sold for $1.537 billion Mega Millions jackpot in South Carolina

John Bacon USA TODAY

Published 7:39 AM EDT Oct 24, 2018

A very lucky and very rich Mega Millions ticket owner has won the record $1.537 billion jackpot – and we may never know the winner's identity.

Mega Millions officials say a ticket purchased in South Carolina matches all six numbers in Tuesday night’s drawing. The massive jackpot is the game's largest-ever grand prize and fell just short of the nation's biggest prize, a $1.586 Powerball prize that drew three winning tickets in 2016.

Mega Millions officials had forecast a U.S. record $1.6 billion prize, but the final number fell just short of that mark. The jackpot did set a Mega Millions record.

“The moment we’ve been waiting for finally arrived, and we couldn’t be more excited,” said Gordon Medenica, director of the Mega Millions Group and head of Maryland Lottery and Gaming. “This is truly a historic occasion."

South Carolina, however, is one of several states that does not require lottery winners to publicly reveal themselves.

The winning numbers were 5, 28, 62, 65, 70 and Mega Ball 5. No details on where the winning ticket was sold were immediately available.

The jackpot has been growing since July, when a group of California office workers won $543 million.

The lucky player overcame miserable odds. The chance of matching all six numbers and winning the top prize is 1 in 302.5 million.

The sales frenzy also produced an amazing 36 second prize tickets – each matching the five white balls drawn Tuesday night. Eight were in California, four in Florida and New York, two in Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia, and one each in Arizona, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.

Those tickets are worth a cool $1 million, except for the ticketholder in Texas and one in Florida. They bought the optional Megaplier, so those two tickets are worth $3 million each. 

This would be the first Mega Millions jackpot winner in South Carolina, according to a historical listing on the MM website.

"We’re so happy for the winner, and we know the South Carolina Education Lottery can’t wait to meet the lucky ticket holder," Medenica said.

Mega Millions is played in 44 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Lottery fanatics can now turn their attention to Wednesday night’s $620 million Powerball prize.

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More: Record $1.6B jackpot too much of a good thing for some lottery players

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