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The winning numbers were drawn for the record $ 1.6 billion jackpot Mega Millions jackpot, but it is not immediately known if there is a winner. The numbers drawn Tuesday night are 5, 28, 62, 65, 70 and Mega Ball 5. (Oct. 24)
AP

A person walks past a newsstand with ads for the Mega Millions lottery on October 23, 2018 in New York City.(Photo: Drew Angerer, Getty Images)

A very lucky and very wealthy Mega Millions ticket owner won the $ 1.537 billion record jackpot – and we may never know who the winner is.

According to Mega Millions officials, a ticket bought in South Carolina matches the six numbers of Tuesday night's draw. The huge jackpot is the biggest jackpot of the game so far. It's right next to the biggest jackpot in the country, a $ 1,586 Powerball jackpot that won three winning tickets in 2016.

The makers of Mega Millions had forecast a record $ 1.6 billion in the United States. The final total set the record for Mega Millions.

"The moment we were waiting for finally arrived and we could not be more excited," said Gordon Medenica, Mega Millions Group Director and responsible for the Maryland Lottery and Gaming. "It's really a historic opportunity."

South Carolina, however, is one of many states that do not require lottery winners to publicly disclose their identity. The winner (s) can quietly claim the annuity, or more likely the $ 877.8 million cash option, and disappear.

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Lottery players can now turn to the $ 620 million Powerball prize on Wednesday night. It's been over two months since Powerball won a grand prize, when New Yorker Nandlall Mangal was the only one to collect $ 245.6 million.

The inflated prices are a function of a drought jackpot. On July 24, Mega Millions saw a jackpot win when 11 California colleagues shared a cool $ 543 million prize – the biggest prize ever won on a single Mega Million ticket.

Drought is not quite luck, either. Mega Millions tweaked its game a year ago, putting the odds of winning the grand prize of one out of 259 million to one out of 302 million. Mega Millions also doubled the ticket price from $ 1 to $ 2. The result: three of the six biggest gains of a game started over 20 years ago.

Tuesday's Mega Millions winning numbers were 5, 28, 62, 65, 70 and Mega Ball 5. No details on where the winning ticket was sold was immediately available. The lucky player overcame huge obstacles – the odds of matching the six numbers is 1 in 302.5 million.

The sales frenzy that preceded Tuesday's draw also produced an incredible number of second-prize tickets, each corresponding to the five white bullets fired Tuesday night. Eight were in California, four in Florida and New York, two in Mbadachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia, and one in Arizona, in the District of Columbia, in Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania Texas and Wisconsin.

These tickets are worth $ 1 million, except for the ticket holder in Texas and one in Florida. They bought the Megaplier as an option, so these two tickets are worth $ 3 million each.

It would be the first winner of the Mega Millions jackpot in South Carolina, according to a historic list on MM's website.

"We are very happy for the winner and we know that the South Carolina Education Lottery is looking forward to meeting the lucky ticket holder," said Medenica.

Mega Millions is played in 44 states as well as Washington, DC and the US Virgin Islands.

Contributor: Dalvin Brown, United States TODAY & # 39; HUI; The Associated Press

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