Mega Millions ticket holder in Florida wins $800M jackpot — largest prize in 2026

The summer celebration is in full swing down in the Sunshine State.

A lucky Mega Millions ticket holder in Florida won the estimated $800 million jackpot — the largest of the year and tenth-largest in the game’s history — on Tuesday night.

The winning numbers were 34, 48, 49, 59, 70 and the gold Mega Ball 12.

It was not immediately announced where Tuesday night’s winning ticket was purchased.

The unidentified ticketholder can choose between the $800 million prize or a one-time pre-tax $344.2 million cash payout.

Choosing the lump sum, the most common choice for jackpot winners, would cost 24% of the winnings to mandatory federal withholding, cutting the prize money to an estimated $261.6 million.

Two other players struck gold with the second-tier prizes, winning the Match 5 prize with all five white ball numbers correct.

A $3 million winning ticket was sold at the Corner Market in Buffalo, NY. Another ticket worth $5 million was sold in Illinois.

The $800 million prize is the tenth largest in Mega Millions history, surpassing the $656 million jackpot shared by three winners from Illinois, Kansas and Maryland in March 2012.

It is the third time the game’s grand prize was clinched in 2026, ending a 38-drawing drought, and the first since March 17, when The Happy Trails Trust struck gold and won the $60 million prize in Van Wert, Ohio.

An anonymous online player in Illinois won the $536 million grand prize a week earlier on March 10. Both winners have chosen the cash sum option, earning them $27.1 million and $245.6 million, respectively.

Florida has now won six Mega Millions grand prizes, its last in August 2023  when two winning tickets were sold in a span of three drawings.

The first, on August 8, holds the record for the largest Mega Millions jackpot in history, when Saltines Holdings, LLC, in Neptune Beach, Florida, claimed the $1.62 billion prize.

The second drawing, on August 15, matched the numbers for the $39 million pot but went unclaimed, according to the state lottery.

Lottery players who fell short of cashing in on the grand prize Tuesday night have another shot Wednesday with Powerball’s estimated $663 million drawing.