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A lucky California Lottery ticket came very close to hitting the jackpot in last night’s Mega Millions draw, matching five numbers and only missing the Mega number. That ticket, which was sold at the Country Store in Baker (San Bernardino County), is now worth $2.9 million!
Last night’s Mega Millions winning numbers were 7-29-60-63-66 and Mega number 15. No one across the country hit all six numbers, so the jackpot now rolls to more than a billion dollars – the first time since January 2021 and only the third time ever Mega Millions has reached the billion-dollar mark!
Friday night’s drawing will be the thirtieth in this jackpot run, which began in mid-April. Sales in California for this entire Mega Millions sequence now top $200 million! As those figures continue to grow, the California Lottery is proud to report that, thanks to this jackpot run alone, the contribution to public education is now estimated to be $80.2 million!
As for the winning ticket from Baker, the California Lottery will not know who the winner is until someone comes forward to claim the prize. The Country Store gets a bonus of more than $14,500 for selling the winning ticket.
As more and more players buy their tickets this week ahead of Friday’s Mega Millions draw, the California Lottery wants to remind everybody that borrowing money to play or spending more on Lottery tickets than someone can afford can lead to serious problems. If a player recognizes that they have a gambling problem, they can call the California Problem Gambling Help Line at 1-800-GAMBLER.