A group of lucky South Dakotans made history by winning the colossal $360 million Mega Millions jackpot in October.
Blue Yucca Trust from Rapid City, South Dakota claimed a $360 Million Mega Millions jackpot they won on 6 October 2023. The ticket, purchased at a gas station in San Angelo, Texas, is the largest lottery win in Texas history, the Texas Lottery announced on Wednesday.
Although the Blue Yucca Trust group is based in South Dakota, the state where a member of the group bought the winning Mega Millions ticket gets credit for the winner. This has happened several times this year, including on 7 October when a New Hampshire resident bought a ticket in Massachusetts and won a $1 million prize.
The winning ticket submitted by The Blue Yucca Trust matched all numbers 12, 24, 46, 57, 66 and Mega Ball 22. They bought it at Stripes #5031 in San Angelo. The Stripes convenience store received a $1 million bonus from the Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
The Blue Yucca Trust chose the cash value when purchasing the ticket. The claimant received $157,367,045 before taxes, setting a new record for the largest prize awarded to a single Texas Lottery player.
Prior to this win, the last time a Texas Lottery player won the Mega Millions jackpot was on 24 September 2019, when a Leander resident won the advertised jackpot of $227 million.
According to the Lottery Post, the first person to win a Mega Millions jackpot in Texas was Ut Van Nguyen of Carrollton. He claimed a prize of $101 million in the 1 October 2004 drawing, shortly after Texas launched the multi-state game in 2003.
