Friday the 13th proves lucky for $1.35 billion lottery ticket holder in US

A customer looks over his purchased lottery ticket at a CITGO gas station on January 10, 2023 in Austin, Texas. The Mega Millions jackpot has climbed to $1.35 billion  (Getty Images via AFP)

WASHINGTON – Friday the 13th proved lucky for one lottery player in the US state of Maine, whose winning ticket is worth an estimated $1.35 billion, Mega Millions officials announced Saturday.

The winner’s identity has yet to be announced, but only one person matched all six numbers, thereby claiming the second-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history (someone in South Carolina won $1.53 billion in 2018).

“Congratulations to the Maine State Lottery, which has just won its first-ever Mega Millions jackpot,” said Pat McDonald, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium. “It’s the fourth billion-dollar jackpot in Mega Millions history.”

The big win was the lottery’s seventh on a Friday the 13th — a date normally considered unlucky — since the game began in 2002.

In the latest drawing, Mega Millions said, 14 people in 10 states matched the five white-ball numbers (30, 43, 45, 46, 61) to win $1 million each, but only the single ticket-holder in the northeastern state of Maine also guessed the gold Mega Ball number: 14.

The jackpot had been growing since October 14, when winning tickets in California and Florida shared a prize of $502 million.

The next drawing is Tuesday, with a jackpot set back to the starting value of $20 million.

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