$1.1 billion Mega Millions jackpot still not claimed: When is the deadline and what happens to unclaimed prizes?

Someone who was at the Jersey Shore in March got very lucky, they’re now a billionaire, or will be once they claim the Mega Millions prize. But that windfall won’t sit around forever.

It’s been nearly six months since someone walked into a liquor store in Neptune on the New Jersey Shore and bought a Mega Millions lottery ticket hoping to snag the $1.13 billion prize that was up for grabs. Whether they chose the numbers themselves or were randomly selected for them, the combination of the numbers 7-11-22-29-38 with a 4 golden ball and a 2X Megaplier turned out to be fortuitous

Those were the numbers drawn on March 26, 2024 for the fifth largest lottery jackpot in history and only one lucky ticket had the perfect match. However, months have passed since that fateful date and still no winner has come forward to claim the astronomical prize.

While the winner still has time to collect the life-changing windfall, the clock is ticking. So what will happen if they don’t show up to collect the $1.128 billion prize?

What happens if no one claims the $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot?

If no one claims the Mega Millions jackpot before the deadline, they will forfeit their winnings.

The prize will then be split up among the 45 participating states as well as Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands proportionately by how much money players put in leading up to the winning jackpot drawing. Each state has its own rules on how to use the money received from an unclaimed prize.

The New Jersey Lottery says that it uses the money from its own “revenue-generating entertainment products to help protect the retirement benefits of those who serve our communities, including New Jersey’s teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public employees.”

What do we know about the Mega Millions jackpot winner?

At the time of writing, we don’t know a lot about the winner. Remember, the lucky person can now choose to get the $1.13 billion (that’s $1,130,000,000) across 30 payments or a one-time cash payout of $537.5 million.

What we do know is that the single winning ticket was purchased in the state of New Jersey. Was the person a resident? Were they just passing through? Those are the details we are looking forward to finding out. If we ever do.

It is possible, of course, that they may choose to claim the prize anonymously to avoid the intense speculation and risk of raising scammers’ attention, but we will still know if it is collected.

When does lottery winner have to decide payment method?

One key date for the winner – remember it could have been someone just passing through the Garden State – is getting closer every day, and that is the deadline for choosing how they want the prize money to be paid out.

Fortunately for us, we have the New Jersey Lottery’s Winner’s Handbook to get our information and in that it says that “Lotto, Mega Millions and Powerball winners have 60 days after the date of the drawing to choose the cash option or annual payments.” And there’s more. “Failure to choose a payment option within the 60-day time period will automatically result in annuity payments.”

When does the lottery ticket becomes invalid?

There are various rules around the length of time that lottery winners have to collect their prize, sometimes as little as just a few months.

Regarding this particular case, if you are hoping that the billion-dollar prize will go back out for people to try again, you still have some time to wait. The ticket holder has an entire year to claim so this discussion would come into play until March 2025. As the guidelines state:

‘For all prizes in any of our live drawing games, you have up to one year from the date of the original drawing within which to cash in your winning ticket. After that, the ticket is expired and can no longer be claimed.’

Out of interest, the store, gas station or other location where the ticket was purchased will also receive a tasty reward, believed to be half a million dollars.