Did Anyone Win Tonight’s Mega Millions for March 30, 2018?

The Mega Millions drawing for Friday, March 30, 2018, is for an estimated $521 million. But has anyone won yet? As of 6:30 a.m. Eastern, we still did not know if anyone had won the Mega Millions. It typically takes about two hours from the time of the drawing to find out. But tonight, it’s taken much longer than usual to announce if anyone won. By later in the morning, Mega Millions finally made the announcement. Yes, someone won the big Mega Millions jackpot from March 30. The winner was from New Jersey and Mega Millions has now reset to $40 million. 

The March 30 jackpot may not be the largest jackpot in Mega Millions’ history, but it’s getting close: the jackpot was the fourth largest in Mega Millions history. Whenever someone wins the main jackpot, the Mega Millions website updates to show that the jackpot is starting over at $40 million. It typically takes Mega Millions about two hours to process all the tickets and announce if someone won.  Taking as long as they did is highly unusual.  Even the California Lottery went ahead and announced that they didn’t have a winner while everyone waited.

But now we know that someone did win. The winner was from a single ticket in New Jersey. The winner will receive the entire $521 million prize (an estimated $317 million cash.) The winning ticket was sold at Riverdale Lukoil South in Riverdale, New Jersey, a town about 30 miles west of New York City.

https://twitter.com/TheNJLottery/status/980070949990141952

Since Mega Millions changed the jackpot rules in October 2017, we can expect a better chance that the jackpots will get bigger and bigger and break more records over time. The largest jackpots in history were: #1) $656 million in March 2012; #2.) $648 million in December 2013; #3.) $536 million in July 2016; and #4.) $451 million in January 2018. This means that today’s jackpot will still rank as the fourth-highest in history, just shy of surpassing the third-biggest Mega Millions jackpot.

Even though we know the winner is from New Jersey, it could still take a while before we find out their identity (if ever.) In New Jersey, players have a year to claim their prize from the date of the drawing. New Jersey rules do state that anyone claiming a winning ticket also consents to use his or her name and image to publicize the award. The winner may also be required to appear at a news conference or other promotional event, or to have their image used on social media without any additional consent. “A Prize claim may be denied if the Claimant refuses to cooperate with the publicity requirements…”

But there’s always a chance this might change, thanks to a recent Powerball jackpot winner in New Hampshire. Although New Hampshire rules allow people who win games like Powerball to take up to a one year from the draw date to claim their prize, New Hampshire law also requires the winner’s name, town, and amount won be available for public information. The winner was able to file a lawsuit and stay anonymous while claiming the winnings through an anonymous trust, even though they had originally signed their winning ticket with their name. Although that court’s ruling isn’t binding in New Jersey, it means that there’s at least a chance that a winner might file a similar lawsuit and win

The odds of winning Mega Millions are 1 in 302.6 million, which are actually less than the odds of winning the Powerball, which is 1 in 292.2 million. Mega Millions recently changed its rules in October 2017, making the odds of winning the big jackpot lower (they used to be 1 in 258.9 million.) On October 28, 2017, Mega Millions increased the cost of buying a ticket from $1 to $2. They increased the starting jackpot to $40 million, and changed the play structure. Instead of picking five numbers out of 75 and 1 number out of 15, players now pick five numbers from 1 to 70 and and one number from 1 to 25.

In order to win tonight’s jackpot, you’d need to match all five white balls and the yellow Mega ball. If you match all five white numbers only, you’ll win $1 million (and more if you’re using a Mega plier option.) If you match 4 white and the yellow, you’ll win $10,000. If you match 4 white only, you’ll win $500. If you match 3 white and 1 yellow, you’ll win $200. If you match 3 white only or if you match 2 white and 1 yellow, you’ll win $10. If you match one white and one yellow, you’ll win $4. If you only match the yellow, you’ll win $2. But if you only match one white ball, you won’t win anything.