TRENTON (Dec. 23, 2024) – A New Jersey player has submitted the winning ticket for the $1.128 Billion Mega Millions jackpot and has begun the process of collecting the prize.

The ticket was drawn March 26 at a Monmouth County ShopRite in Neptune Township and matched the winning numbers of 07, 11, 22, 29 and 38 as well as the Gold Mega Ball number 04 and the multiplier number of 02.

In New Jersey, Lottery winners have one year from the date of the drawing to file a claim before the ticket expires. It is common for large jackpot winners to take their time to file a claim.

At $1.128 billion, the jackpot is the fifth highest in the game’s nearly 30-year history. The winner will receive the cash value of the prize, which is $537.5 million before state and federal taxes. Another big jackpot looms on the horizon. Heading into Tuesday’s drawing, the current jackpot stands at $970 million and would be the seventh largest.

The largest jackpot was $1.602 billion and won by a Florida player in August of 2023. Other top jackpots were won in South Carolina ($1.537 billion in 2018), Maine ($1.348 billion in January, 2023) and Illinois ($1.337 billion in 2022). Earlier this fall, a Texas player won an $810 million jackpot.

The New Jersey player values privacy and has chosen to remain anonymous. A 2020 New Jersey law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous indefinitely, and the identity of winners will not be included in materials available to public inspection under the State’s Open Public Records Act. Players claiming Lottery prizes worth at least $600 must still provide their identity to Lottery officials to claim a prize.

The Mega Millions game is funded by a consortium of 47 U.S. states and jurisdictions. From the drawing, New Jersey raised $77 million in sales and its share toward the jackpot is $27 million. The ShopRite received a $30,000 bonus commission for selling the winning ticket.