South Carolina resident wins $1.537 billion in Mega Millions jackpot

A South Carolina resident has become an overnight billionaire after the lucky lottery participant's ticket hit the right numbers to finally have a winner in the Mega Millions jackpot.

The yet to be identified winner now has two options - take a single-time payment of $878 million or have a payout totalling $1.537 billion over 29 years.

 

BREAKING: The final #MegaMillions winning jackpot amount is $1.537 BILLION! This means it does NOT break the largest jackpot record set by #Powerball! https://t.co/kNmsHrWqoU pic.twitter.com/y9NNk4FYwE

— Mega Millions (@MegaMillionsUS) October 24, 2018

 

The winnings numbers - 5, 28, 62, 65 and 70 - had only one matching ticket. Local media reported early on Wednesday that the latest draw had 36 tickets with five of the six numbers matching.

The winning amount kept increasing because all the draws since July in a game played in 44 states of the United States had produced no lucky ticket. With prices of each ticket increased from $1 to $2, the stakes kept getting higher. Now, the winning amount will be reset to $40 million in the next round.

The US has several such lottery-based games of which Mega Millions and Powerball are the premier two which offer riches galore.