Massive Lottery Jackpot of $1.34 Billion Hit in Illinois

Look out Elon Musk and Bill Gates, there's a new billionaire in town thanks to a lottery prize totaling $1,340,000,000 that a lucky winner can claim following a drawing that produced one winning ticket on July 29.

It's the Mega Millions lottery, arguably the biggest game around considering that participation includes players from 45 states as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The recent $1.34 billion score has yet to be cashed in by the winning ticket holder as of this writing. What is known is that the ticket was sold at a Speedway gas station in suburban Des Plaines, Illinois, with the retailer getting a hefty cut of $500,000 as a bonus.

That location is just a few miles outside of Chicago. Coincidentally, it's only a few miles from my house also, but I am not in possession of the winning ticket of 13, 36, 45, 57 and 67 plus Mega Ball 14.

Whoever does have the ticket -- and we may never know the identity of the lucky individual as Illinois allows winners over $250,000 to remain anonymous -- is set to receive the $1.34 billion prize over a span of 29 years. Should the winner prefer a lump sum payment instead, the ticket would be worth $780.5 million.

The claimant has one year to submit the winning ticket to lottery officials, but only 60 days to opt-in for the one time cash payment of $780,500,000.

For those keeping score, the recent jackpot was the second-largest in the history of Mega Millions following a $1.537 billion winning ticket that hit in South Carolina in 2018. The world record lottery score goes to the Powerball lottery for a $1.586 billion jackpot in 2016 that was distributed to winners in Florida, California and Tennessee.