Mysterious Mega Millions Winner In Illinois Has Yet To Claim Their Massive $1.3 Billion Prize

It has been almost a month after the winning ticket for this year’s $1.3 billion Mega Millions lottery was sold, and the winner has not yet come forward to collect their prize.

The winning lottery ticket was purchased at a Speedway gas station in Des Plaines, Illinois, by a person whose identity has not been revealed. It was the third-largest single win in the history of the United States lottery and the second-largest reward ever won in the Mega Millions lottery.

Officials from the lottery have said that they are awaiting communication from the winner.

“We don’t know whether or not they even know that they won a prize,” Harold Mays, director of Illinois’ lottery, told The Guardian on Friday. “So, I encourage everybody to check your ticket.”

According to the regulations of the lottery, the winners of the Mega Millions game have one year from the date of the drawing to receive their reward. In addition, winners have sixty days to decide whether they want their prize money paid out in one large sum or in a series of lesser amounts paid out annually.

According to the regulations of the game, each of the states that takes part in the Mega Millions lottery will have their share of the prize money returned to them if the winner does not come forward to collect it.

The Mega Millions lottery is played in 45 states, as well as the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands of the United States. Lotteries from each state are responsible for game coordination.

The Mega Millions game captivated the interest of the whole country for a stretch of two weeks last month when the jackpot surpassed $1 billion. As a result of the excitement, the Chief Executive Officer of the Raising Cane restaurant chain decided to purchase 50,000 lottery tickets and make a commitment to share the prize money with his employees if any of them were successful.

Shortly after the winning numbers were selected for Mega Millions, the website for the game collapsed.

Lottery authorities have said that it is unknown why the winner hasn’t claimed their award, but that such a scenario is not unprecedented. “For a prize of this magnitude, it’s not unusual for the winner to take a while to claim,” Mays said in a statement earlier this month. “I’m sure they’re going through a range of emotions.”

The Mega Millions winner who remains anonymous was not the only one to benefit financially from their victory. According to authorities from the Illinois Lottery, retailers in the state made a total of $3.75 million in commission and incentives on the sale of tickets earlier this month.

According to the New York Post, the Speedway that was responsible for selling the winning ticket would get a bonus of $500,000.

The winning ticket for the Mega Millions jackpot of $1.5 billion, which was the game’s highest prize ever, was purchased in South Carolina. The next large one was in 2021, offered a payout of one billion dollars for the Mega Millions game.