What the Improbable Lottery Prize Means to Bergenline Community in Union City

TRENTON (December 3, 2025) – The Garden State News shop on the corner of Bergenline Avenue and 41st street in Union City was abuzz with excitement on a chilly Wednesday morning. It was for good reason. The store owner and local customers had just learned that a New Jersey Lottery player late the previous Tuesday night matched all five white balls and the gold Mega Ball to win the $90 million Mega Millions jackpot.

The winning numbers were 17, 25, 26, 53 and 60. The gold Mega Ball was 16. Garden State News is at 4024 Bergenline Avenue, Union City. The retailer will receive a $30,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. The cash value of the prize is nearly $41.99 million.

The Hudson County city has seen nine Lottery players this year winning prizes ranging from $10,000 all the way to $260,000. Of those, four were won on shops along Bergenline, the community’s main artery. But there’s been nothing like the staggering sum won Tuesday night.

“I just found out this morning at 6:30 that we had a winner,” Krish Patel, the store owner since 2014, said Wednesday amid the bustle of his morning foot traffic “It’s great for the player, for us and the community. Now, we’re one of the lucky stores, too. Patel’s store will receive a $30,000 bonus for selling the winning check.

At a news conference Wednesday with multiple digital news and television stations, New Jersey Lottery Director James Carey was delighted to celebrate the win with Mr. Patel.

“The retailers are the heart and soul of our business,” said Mr. Carey, who has now seen 10 Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots in his nearly eight-year tenure. “New Jersey really punches above its weight in terms of big winners. We hope to have even more.”

The excitement and energy the Lottery win brings to the community was palpable.

“I’m so happy for Union City and Bergenline,” said Maryuri Martinetti, who also attended the news conference with fellow council member Celin Valdivia. She and Mr. Valdivia were quick to recognize the synergy of the timing of the Mega Millions prize with Union City and the 55th anniversary of the New Jersey Lottery, pointing out that former state senator and Union City Mayor William Musto was one of game’s founders.

This was the shortest jackpot run since August 2023, when a Florida ticket won a $39 million prize just two drawings after another Florida ticket won a game record $1.602 billion. That $39 million prize went unclaimed. During the run, the New Jersey Lottery earned nearly $5 million in sales, of which more than $2 million will be contributed to the state’s public employee pension fund.

Tuesday’s jackpot comes less than a month after a Georgia player won the $980 million top prize on Nov. 14. In the five drawings since that prize, there were a total of 1,016,550 winning tickets across the U.S. in all non-jackpot prize tiers. In New Jersey, two players in Essex and Bergen Counties saw their $10,000 base prizes triple to $30,000 on Nov. 18 thanks to the free multiplier included with ticket purchases.

The jackpot has reset to $50 million for Friday’s drawing.

Other Mega Millions jackpots won in 2025 were:

• $348 million: June 27, Virginia
• $112 million: April 18, Ohio
• $344 million: March 25, Illinois
• $113 million: Jan. 17, Arizona

The game’s all-time highest jackpots:

• $1.602 billion: Aug. 8, 2023, Florida
• $1.537 billion: Oct. 23, 2018, South Carolina
• $1.348 billion: Jan. 13, 2023, Maine
• $1.337 billion: July 29, 2022, Illinois
• $1.269 billion: Dec. 27, 2024, California
• $1.128 billion: March 26, 2024, Neptune, Monmouth County, New Jersey
• $1.050 billion: Jan. 22, 2021, Michigan
• $980 million: Nov. 14, 2025, Georgia
• $810 million: Sept. 10, 2024, Texas
• $656 million: March 30, 2012, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland

Mega Millions Winners in New Jersey Since 2018

• 2024: $1.13 Billion, Neptune, Ocean County
• 2020: $123 million, Bayonne, Hudson County
• 2019 : $202 million , Edison, Middlesex County
• 2019 : $273 million, Alpha, Warren County
• 2018 : $533 million won in Vernon, Sussex County
• 2015 : $106 million won by a group of five friends from Yonkers, N.Y., and Basking Ridge, Morris County

Powerball Winners in New Jersey Since 2018

• Dec. 2, 2025: $90 Million, Union City, Hudson County
• 2024: $221 Million, Lindenwold, Camden County
• 2019: $274 Million, Philipsburg, Warren County
• 2018: $315.3 Million, Hackensack, Bergen County

News Conference Video