Lottery Frenzy in the US: A single individual has won an enormous prize of $1.58 billion in the American "Mega Millions" lottery drawing, as reported this morning (Wednesday) in the media outlets in the United States, just hours after the drawing took place. At this stage, the identity of the fortunate winner is not known, but it is said that the winning ticket was sold in the state of Florida.
In the drawing held last night, the winning numbers drawn were: 13, 19, 20, 32, and 33. The "Mega Ball" number that earned the winner the grand prize was 14. Alongside the jackpot winner, 5 additional individuals won the second prize of $2 million each after correctly guessing the winning numbers, but not the Mega Ball number.
The prize that was distributed sets a new record for the "Mega Millions" lottery, surpassing the previous record set in 2018 when a resident of South Carolina won $1.53 billion. Additionally, this is the third-largest prize in size in U.S. history, following two even larger wins in the "Powerball" lottery, totaling $1.59 billion and $2.04 billion.
The fortunate winner will now have to decide whether they want to receive all the money in annual installments spread over 30 years or, alternatively, "settle" for a single payment of approximately $783 million. This is a common practice in U.S. lotteries, encouraging winners to pace their winnings to avoid quickly depleting their prize and getting into financial troubles. Additional beneficiaries are the tax authorities in Florida, expected to receive millions of dollars from the winnings to the state treasury.
