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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

A Mega Millions player rang in 2019 by winning one of the largest lottery jackpots

Lottery forms for Louisiana Mega Millions, Powerball and other lottery games fill the drawer at The World Bar and Grill, in Delta, La., a few miles from the Mississippi-Louisiana state line, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018. (Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press)
By Lindsey Bever Washington Post

Here’s to happiness, health and a very prosperous new year, well, for at least one person in New York who won a Mega Millions jackpot worth an estimated $425 million in the lottery’s first drawing of 2019.

Officials with New York Lottery said the winning ticket was sold at an automotive repair shop in Glen Head.

During the drawing on New Year’s Day, that ticket matched all five white-ball numbers (34, 44, 57, 62 and 70) and the gold Mega Ball (14), earning the estimated $425 million jackpot, or $254.6 million in cash, in the eighth largest jackpot in the lottery’s history, according to a statement from Mega Millions.

There were also six second-prize tickets that won $1 million each – three of them sold in New York, one in Ohio, one in South Carolina and one in Texas, according to New York Lottery.

Throughout Mega Millions’ history, there has been only one other time that a Mega Millions’ jackpot was won on New Year’s Day, according to the lottery. More than a decade ago, Texas Lottery reported that a single ticket had won all five white-ball numbers as well as the Mega Ball on Jan. 1, 2008 – a jackpot worth an estimated $33 million.

Tuesday’s jackpot winner has not been publicly identified.