**Mo’ Money November: Georgia Player Wins $980 Million Mega Millions Jackpot**
A Georgia Mega Millions player won the estimated $980 million grand prize Friday night, marking the ninth largest jackpot in the game’s history and ending its longest drought between jackpot winners.
The winning numbers were 1, 8, 11, 12, 57, with the white Mega Ball 7. This victory marks the first time a Mega Millions player has matched all six numbers since an anonymous ticket holder won the $348 million jackpot on June 27 in Burgess, Virginia. The game had endured 39 consecutive winless drawings between jackpot winners.
The unidentified winner told lottery officials they plan to purchase a new, zero-radius riding lawn mower. The ticket holder opted to take the one-time cash option of $155.6 million instead of the full $348 million prize, which would have been paid out over 30 years.
This jackpot is the largest prize awarded since Mega Millions underwent a historic revamp in April. The changes increased ticket prices from $2 to $5 and were marketed as “bigger and better.” The revamp aimed to create larger prizes for all non-jackpot tiers, improve odds of winning the jackpot, and start the jackpot at $50 million, up from the original $20 million.
The odds of hitting the jackpot in the newly revamped game are 1 in 290,472,336.
The $980 million pot is the eighth-largest in Mega Millions’ 29-year history, surpassing the $810 million prize sold at a Texas gas station on September 10, 2024.
Friday’s winner has the option to choose either the $980 million prize paid out over 30 years or a one-time lump sum estimated at $452.2 million.
https://nypost.com/2025/11/15/us-news/mega-millions-980m-jackpot-winning-ticket-sold-results-drawing/