$1.13 billion Mega Millions prize in New Jersey is unclaimed and has a deadline

The lucky winner of the $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot in New Jersey in March has a little over six months to claim the prize or else it will expire.

Mega Millions said the jackpot was unclaimed as of Wednesday despite someone in New Jersey landing the massive grand prize in late March.

FOX Business reached out Thursday to the New Jersey Lottery about the claim status of the jackpot.

A ShopRite Liquor store in Monmouth County sold the winning ticket for the $1.13 billion windfall. It matched the numbers 07, 11, 22, 29 and 38 with the gold Mega Ball 04 and multiplier 02.

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New Jersey’s deadline for claiming a Mega Millions prize is one year from the drawing date, according to game rules published by the state lottery’s website. In this case, it was drawn on March 26.

In a June press release, the New Jersey Lottery said it “recommends that the winner sign the ticket, make copies of it, contact professional legal and financial advisors, and call” the lottery to submit their claim.

Mega Millions jackpot winners have two payout options: 30 years of annuities or a one-time cash lump-sum. The $1.13 billion jackpot was worth $537.5 million pre-tax for the latter.

New Jersey lets lottery winners “remain anonymous indefinitely” and does not include their identities in “materials available to public inspection under the State’s Open Public Records Act,” the lottery has said.

“Players claiming Lottery prizes worth $600.00 or more must still provide their identity to Lottery officials in order to claim a prize,” the state lottery said in a press release. “The New Jersey Lottery also shares the identity of winners with other State agencies, and claims are reviewed for collection of unpaid obligations such as child support, student loan arrearages, and back taxes.”

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The Mega Millions website said all states that participate in the lottery “will get back all the money that state contributed” in the event that no one ends up approaching officials about collecting their winnings. 

In New Jersey, state laws require at least 30% of unclaimed prize money to be funneled back to the state as revenue, though the New Jersey Lottery has kept under 10% in recent years, according to its website.

The unclaimed $1.13 billion jackpot represents the fifth-largest from Mega Millions.

While that potentially 10-figure sum still needs collecting, some billion-dollar lottery jackpots have been claimed in recent months.

In California, the respective winners of two supersized jackpots – a $1.765 billion Mega Millions grand prize and a $1.08 billion Powerball windfall – collected their winnings in March.

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The winner of a $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot in Oregon was identified in April.