Mystery winner of $1.13B Mega Millions jackpot in NJ still hasn’t claimed prize after 6 months
Their luck’s almost run out!
The mystery winner who bought a $1.13 billion Mega Millions ticket at a liquor store in New Jersey earlier this year still hasn’t claimed the prize six months after hitting the state’s biggest jackpot ever, according to lottery officials.
The clock is ticking as the would-be billionaire — who purchased the ticket from ShopRite liquor store in Neptune Township March 26 — has just six more months to claim the massive windfall.
If nobody claims the prize, which has cash option of $536.6 million, the jackpot money would be given to the 45 participating Mega Millions states along with Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands, NJ.com reported.
Lottery officials said they plan to post signs in the liquor store, on Route 66, in a bid to track down the ticket holder.
The winner bought just one ticket and manually picked the numbers instead of choosing an automatically generated quick pick option.
The lucky numbers were 7, 11, 22, 29, 38, and the gold Mega ball was 4.
The jackpot, which grew to over a billion dollars after 31 consecutive drawings, is the fifth largest in US history.
In the Garden State, winners are allowed to remain anonymous but those who take home more than $600 must provide their identity to lottery officials in order to claim their prize.
In New Jersey, no large multi-state jackpot winner has ever failed to claim the prize.
Owners of the ShopRite Liquor store received a $30,000 prize for selling the ticket and said during a press conference they plan to donate the money to charity.
