After nine months, a New Jersey resident has finally claimed the $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot won in March. The state’s lottery said the player has submitted the winning ticket and has started the collection process.
The winner has chosen a lump sum of $537.5 million before state and federal taxes. They have decided to remain anonymous as New Jersey is one of a handful of states allowing that. The winning ticket was sold at a Monmouth County ShopRite in Neptune Township on March 26. The store will receive a $30,000 commission for selling the ticket.
The $1.13 million prize was the sixth billion-dollar jackpot in Mega Millions history. However, with upcoming ticket price increase, these sizes of prizes should become more frequent.
Unusually long time to claim the jackpot
The nine months it took to claim the prize is the longest for a winner to claim a billion-dollar Mega Millions jackpot. The previous record was four months, which occurred twice: for a $1.602 billion jackpot in Florida in 2023 and a $1.537 billion in South Carolina in 2018. Winners claimed the other billion-dollar jackpots within one to two months.
If the New Jersey winner had not claimed the $1.13 billion prize within a year, the money would’ve been distributed to the states contributing to the Mega Millions jackpot. New Jersey would’ve received $27 million, which would’ve gone toward public workers’ pensions.
Unclaimed prizes are rare. A Mega Millions spokesperson told Bonus in September that such occurrences have only happened a few times. The most recent was 2023, when a $39 million jackpot went unclaimed in Florida. Before that, three jackpots went unclaimed in the early 2000s.
NJ lawmakers want to block a potential lottery income source
While the New Jersey Lottery missed on $27 million in revenue had the winner not claimed their prize, it also faces another potential revenue stream getting blocked: online lottery sales. In August 2023, the state’s lottery approved the online sale of lottery draw tickets with a goal launch date of fall 2024. The lottery said the move would attract younger players. However, it faced opposition from some lawmakers, fearing iLottery would impact retail sales and small businesses.
The opponents introduced companion bills in the Senate and Assembly. Recently, the Assembly bill, A3759, moved closer to blocking online lottery sales. On November 14, the Assembly Regulated Professions Committee unanimously voted against iLottery. While the vote doesn’t make the bill a law, it moves a step closer to a floor vote.
The move towards blocking iLottery is surprising, given that New Jersey is among the most gambling-friendly states. It also goes against the trend of expanding online lottery sales. Currently, 14 states, including neighboring Pennsylvania and New York, plus Washington D.C., offer some sort of online lottery.
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