Lottery ticket bought in Illinois wins $1.337 billion

Lottery ticket bought in Illinois wins $1.337 billion

CHICAGO A single ticket bought in a Chicago suburb beat the odds and won a $1.337 billion Mega Millions jackpot.

According to megamillions.com, there was one jackpot-winning ticket in the draw Friday night, and it was bought at a Speedway gas station and convenience store in Des Plaines.

The winning numbers were 13-36-45-57-67. The Mega Ball was 14.

The jackpot was the nation's third-largest lottery prize. It grew so large because no one had matched the game's six selected numbers since April 15. That's 29 consecutive draws without a jackpot winner.

The $1.337 billion prize is for winners who choose the annuity option, paid annually over 29 years. Most winners opt for the cash option, which for Friday night's drawing was an estimated $780.5 million.

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million.

According to the Illinois Lottery, the store that sold the ticket is a pretty big winner, too; it will receive half a million dollars just for selling the ticket.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Illinois is among the states where winners of more than $250,000 can choose to not reveal their names, and Illinois Lottery spokeswoman Emilia Mazur said the vast majority of those winners do just that.

"We won't know whether it's an individual or it's a lottery pool until the winner comes forward to claim their prize," National Mega Millions spokeswoman Danielle Frizzi-Babb said.

Emily Irwin, managing director, Advice & Planning, at Wells Fargo's Wealth & Investment Management, said Friday that the winner should consider keeping a low profile and resist going on an eyebrow-raising spending spree that everyone knows the winner cannot afford.

"This is not the time to start calling everybody you know, saying, 'Hey, I have a big secret. Can you keep it?'" Irwin said.

This is necessary to avoid being inundated with requests for money. "There are scammers and others who follow big winners," she said.

Frizzi-Babb says talking to a financial planner is a good idea.

"I would suggest that you do that before you even set foot in a lottery office," she said. -- The Associated Press