California wins $7.3M as Mega Millions jackpot hits $743M

A Mega Millions ticket sold in California narrowly missed the game's massive jackpot on Tuesday, July 21, winning a multi-million dollar consolation prize instead as the top award rolls over to become one of the largest in the lottery's history. The ticket, purchased at the Alrabadi Gas Mini Mart on East Palmdale Boulevard in Palmdale, matched all five white numbers but not the Mega Ball, lottery officials announced.

The winning numbers for the Tuesday drawing were 25, 37, 59, 68, and 70, with a Mega Ball of 10. The Palmdale ticket, which included a 2x multiplier, earned a prize of $7,326,642. This substantial sum resulted from California's parimutuel prize structure, where major payouts are determined by ticket sales and the number of winners. In most other states, a ticket matching five numbers without the Mega Ball is worth a fixed $1 million, which would have been doubled to $2 million with the same multiplier. Two other significant winning tickets were sold in California: one worth $62,208 at a Safeway in Fort Bragg and another worth $31,104 at a liquor store in San Francisco. A ticket sold in Arizona with a 3x multiplier won $3 million.

No ticket nationwide matched all six...