Mega Millions March 18 Winner Says ‘Play Your Lucky Numbers,’ Current Jackpot Hits $105 Mil

The Mega Millions jackpot of March 18 was the seventh-largest lottery prize in United States history, and with more than 113 million tickets sold for that drawing, not just one but two matched the winning numbers. Now, almost two months later, both winners have finally come forward and claimed their cash.

After a Florida couple emerged last week to cash in their wining Mega Millions ticket, the other winner, who bought a ticket in Maryland, has now also stepped forward to claim the other half of the staggering $400 million jackpot.

Unlike all but six of the 43 states and two U.S. jurisdictions that take part in the twice-weekly Mega Millions game, Maryland allows lottery winners to remain anonymous. So almost nothing is known about the winner who claimed half of what was the third-largest Mega Millions jackpot in the game’s 17 1/2 year history — including the first six of those years when the nationwide lottery was known as “The Big Game,” changing its name to Mega Millions in 2002.

The only facts to report about the Maryland winner are that he, or she, claimed the prize sometime late last week, choosing as most jackpot winners do, the single payment cash option. The winner’s $200 million share of what would be a $400 million Mega Millions jackpot paid out over 30 years, was instead paid a one-time sum of about $115 million.

After taxes, the winner’s bank account is now heftier by $76.4 million.

The winner also offered a few words of advice to Mega Millions players, though how helpful these tips will be is up for debate.

“You have to play to win,” said Maryland Mega Millions winner said. “You have to play your lucky numbers.”

The winner is the first Maryland ticket buyer to win a Mega Millions jackpot since October of last year, when one man hit a $189 million jackpot. A ticket buyer from Maryland also shared, with two other winners, the largest jackpot in both U.S. lottery and Mega Millions history, claiming one third of a mind-boggling $656 million payout.

As for the current Mega Millions jackpot, the top prize edged into nine figures after no ticket matched all six numbers in Tuesday night’s drawing. But you still may have won something in Tuesday’s drawing. Check your ticket against these Mega Millions numbers drawn at 10:59 pm in Atlanta, Georgia:

18 — 20 — 27 — 48 — 51 Mega Ball 5

The jackpot for Friday’s Mega Millions drawing now stands at $105 million.