RELEASE DATE: 1/2/2019
UPDATED
An unforgettable New Year’s celebration is on tap for a lucky Mega Millions ticket holder in New York, as the jackpot was won on the first day of the new year! A single ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night to win the $437 million jackpot ($261.8 million cash). The final jackpot value is higher than the estimated amount due to strong sales, and is the eighth largest jackpot in the history of the game. The winning numbers for January 1 are the white balls 34, 44, 57, 62 and 70, plus the gold Mega Ball 14.
It’s the second time the Mega Millions jackpot has been won on New Year’s Day; the only previous January 1 winner was in Texas in 2008.
The jackpot had been rolling since October 23, when a truly “mega” prize of $1.537 billion was won in South Carolina. The winner of that prize – a world record for a single lottery ticket – has not yet come forward. Four other jackpots were won in 2018 – $451 million on January 5 (Florida), $533 million on March 30 (New Jersey), $142 million on May 4 (Ohio) and $543 million on July 24 (California).
There were plenty of winners in the January 1 drawing, providing some extra cash to start 2019 for 1,961,867 ticket holders at all other prize levels. Seven tickets matched the five white balls to win the game’s second prize. One, sold in Pennsylvania, included the optional Megaplier (an extra $1 purchase available in most states) and is worth $4 million after the 4X Megaplier was drawn. The other six are worth $1 million each – three were sold in New York and one each in Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.
For matching four white balls plus the Mega Ball, 38 tickets won the game’s $10,000 third prize Tuesday night. Nine of those are actually worth $40,000 each because they included the optional Megaplier.
In this jackpot run, since October 23 there have been more than 14.1 million winning tickets at all prize levels, including 35 worth $1 million or more.
The next drawing on Friday, January 4, resets to its starting value of $40 million ($23.9 million cash).
Mega Millions media contacts