$536M Jackpot Winning Mega Millions Ticket Sold In Illinois

ILLINOIS — A Mega Millions ticket bought in Illinois is worth a cool $536 million—the first jackpot win of 2026.

The ticket—with numbers 16, 21, 30, 35, 65 plus the gold Mega Ball 7—won in the Tuesday night drawing, according to the Mega Millions website.

There is one jackpot winner—matching all five numbers and the gold Mega ball.

The jackpot was an estimated $536 million, with a cash option of $244.2 million. It is the second largest prize ever won by an online lottery player in the U.S., and the fifth Illinois Lottery player to win the Mega Millions jackpot in nearly five years, Illinois Lottery officials said.

Since 2021, Illinois Lottery players have won over $2.8 billion in Mega Millions jackpots.

In March 2025, a ticket bought at a convenience store in Cortland won a $349 million Mega Millions jackpot.

In June 2024, an iLottery player won $552 million, making this the largest prize ever won by an online lottery player in the U.S.

In July 2022, a ticket bought at a gas station in Des Plaines won a $1.34 billion Mega Millions jackpot—which remains the largest lottery prize ever won in Illinois.

In June 2021, a Mega Millions player won $56 million at a Citgo gas station in Crestwood.

A separate Illinois iLottery player also won a $5 million prize in Tuesday's drawing, matching all five numbers with a 5x multiplier. Also, three tickets that won $1,000 and 18 worth $400 were also sold in Illinois, according to the Illinois Lottery.

Illinois has won or shared in 17 jackpot wins over the years. The overall odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 23; the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 290,472,336, according to Mega Millions.

It's also only the second time in Mega Millions history that the first jackpot won in a given year wasn’t until March. In 2024, a March 26 jackpot of $1.128 billion was taken by a New Jersey player. That was the first of just four jackpots won in 2024—the fewest in any single year since the game began in 2002.

Tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $5 each and include a randomly assigned multiplier, multiplying the base prize levels by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X.

And it's apparently no surprise that an Illinois lottery player got lucky and won the jackpot — Illinois was recently named among the luckiest states in the country, according to sports betting platform Action Network.

Illinois ranks 6th, based on 11 luck factors, combining everything from lottery wins and lightning strikes to credit scores and accident rates. Illinois' 11 major lottery jackpots—well, 12 now—make it look pretty darn lucky.

Other highlights:

• Average credit score: 712 (above the national average)
• Irish population: 10.45%
• Low fatal accident rates: 11 deaths per 100K residents
• Natural disasters: 65 recorded events
• Workplace accidents: 156 reported incidents