The search is on for the winner of the $227 million Texas lottery ticket
If you bought a lottery ticket in Texas, it’s time to check it — because someone out there is $227 million richer.
Some mystery winner has the jackpot-winning ticket for the Mega Millions that was drawn on Tuesday, the Texas Lottery announced. The lucky numbers on the ticket match all six of those drawn: 6-14-24-42-46 and Mega Ball 9.
The ticket was sold at Lakeline Express Mart in Cedar Park, Texas, a suburb of Austin. At the time of purchase, the customer selected the cash value option so the winner will be taking home a little over $157 million. That’s a pretty good return on a $2 purchase.
This winner will take home the largest prize payout to a single Texas Lottery player in history, the commission announced. They are also the 13th Mega Millions jackpot winner since the game started in October 2016.
“We look forward to meeting Texas’ newest millionaire and we are excited to have another Mega Millions jackpot winner here in Texas,” said Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery, in a statement.
“If you have the winning ticket, we encourage you to sign the ticket, put it in a safe place, seek financial and legal advice, and call the Texas Lottery before coming to Austin to claim the prize.”
The winner has 180 days from the draw date to claim the prize. In addition to the massive payout, the retailer that sold the ticket is looking at a pretty sweet bonus as well — $1 million.
To play Mega Millions, the person buying a lottery ticket chooses five numbers from a set of 70 and one Mega Ball number from a set of 25 — or they can elect to have a computer choose the numbers for them.
To hit the jackpot, their ticket has to match all six numbers. The jackpot for the game has now been reset to $40 million.