News writer
The weekend brought a first for Minnesota Lottery players — a $2 million win in the Mega Millions draw game!
2 million reasons to celebrate
One lucky ticket purchased for the September 27 Mega Millions with Megaplier drawing happened to match all of the winning white ball numbers to win the big prize.
The winning white ball numbers for the September 27 drawing were 29, 46, 53, 69, and 70, and the Mega Ball was 23 with a Megaplier of 2X.
The lucky winner matched the five white balls drawn to win $1 million. However, they also added the Megaplier option to the winning ticket for an additional $1, which means their win was multiplied by 2 to win the $2 million.
This happens to be the first $2 million winner for the Mega Millions with Megaplier game in Minnesota.
The winning ticket was purchased at Holiday Stationstore, located at 5101 Edina Industrial Blvd. in Edina. For selling the winning ticket, the lucky lottery retailer earned a $5,000 bonus from the state lottery.
Claiming their winnings
The lucky winner must claim their winnings in person at the Minnesota Lottery headquarters in Roseville. If you happen to be the lucky ticket holder, lottery officials recommend you call ahead to check hours and make an appointment.
Winners have one year from the drawing date to claim their prizes.
When claiming their prize, the winner can choose to opt into publicity. If they choose not to do that, then their name and city will not be released. Minnesota changed its rules on this on September 1, 2021, which allowed the names and cities of lottery prize winners above $10,000 to remain private data.
There was no jackpot winner in Friday's drawing, so the Mega Millions jackpot now increased to an estimated $93 million for the Tuesday, October 1, drawing.
If you want to try your luck at winning the big jackpot, players must purchase their tickets by 9 p.m. CT on the day of the drawing.
Where does the Minnesota Lottery revenue go?
While players are dreaming of winning that big Mega Millions jackpot, Minnesota Lottery officials are excited to be delivering big money to the environment as well.
For the last 30 years, 40% of lottery proceeds in Minnesota go to the state Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, which helps fund projects like Dakota County's Thompson Park.
However, the issue of where this lottery revenue goes is on the ballot this year in Minnesota. Every 25 years it comes back up for voters to decide if they want to continue sending the lottery revenue to environmental projects.
State officials said if you happen to vote this year and skip the constitutional amendment question regarding the lottery, your vote will automatically be counted as a no.
If voters turn down the amendment, the revenue would go back into the state's general fund.
Enjoy playing the Minnesota Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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