close up of pen on lottery ticket
Someone clinched the $1.28 billion Mega Millions jackpot, and the winning ticket was bought in Illinois, according to lottery officials.
The winning numbers called in Friday night's drawing were: 13-36-45-57-67, Mega Ball: 14.
According to officials, the odds of matching all five numbers and the "Mega Ball" number are 1-in-303 million. By comparison, some estimates hold that you have a 1-in-9 million chance of being struck by lightning on two separate occasions.
The giant $1.28 billion jackpot remains the nation's third-largest prize and is the result of 29 consecutive drawings without anyone matching all of the game's six numbers. That last time someone hit the Mega Millions jackpot was April 15.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
The only prizes that were larger were all worth at least $1 billion, including the all-time record jackpot of nearly $1.6 billion in a Jan. 2016 Powerball drawing.
The Mega Millions drawings in Oct. 2018 ($1.5 billion) and Jan. 2021 ($1 billion) are the only other two jackpots to exceed hit the $1 billion mark.
