New Jersey Mega Millions player wins $90m jackpot

• A Mega Millions lottery ticket purchased in Union City, New Jersey, won the game's jackpot on Tuesday
• The winner can either collect the entire $90m jackpot via annuity payments or take home a one-time lump cash sum of $42.0m
• The jackpot win in New Jersey marks the shortest jackpot run for the game since 2023

Not even a month after an incredibly fortunate player in Georgia took down the jackpot from Mega Millions, the top prize was won again.

The game's drawing on Tuesday saw a single ticket purchased in New Jersey match all winning numbers to collect the sweet $90m jackpot.

The jackpot-winning ticket was purchased in Union City

In mid-November, a single ticket purchased in Georgia took down the mind-blowing $983m Mega Millions jackpot at the time.

While the $90m top prize won in New Jersey on Tuesday is far from the astronomical jackpot of nearly $1bn from November, it is completely life-changing.

As with other jackpot prizes, in case the winner can collect approximately $42.0m in a one-time lump sum payment or take home the entire $90m prize via annuity.

Not much is known about the fortunate winner from New Jersey, besides the fact that the ticket that matched all winning numbers was purchased in Union City.

To win the $90m jackpot, the winner matched all white balls on Tuesday, 17, 25, 26, 53 and 60, along with the gold Mega Ball number 16.

The Mega Millions drawing on December 2, 2025, produced more than 184,000 winning tickets across all different prize tiers.

Besides the jackpot prize, two tickets matched correctly four white balls along with the Mega Ball for a tier-three prize.

While both of the tickets were sold in Florida, one won $40,000, while the other one hit $20,000.

The win from New Jersey is the fifth Mega Millions jackpot in 2025

The latest Mega Millions win in New Jersey represents the fifth jackpot win for the year.

Before the $983m win in Georgia, the Mega Millions jackpot was won in Virginia on June 27, 2025, for a $348m payday.

Earlier in the year, a lucky ticket holder in Ohio hit the game's $112m jackpot on April 18, 2025.

On March 25 this year, an Illinois player matched all winning numbers to win the game's $349m jackpot, while the first Mega Millions top prize won for the year came to Arizona on January 17 when a single ticket hit the jackpot for a $112m win.

The most recent jackpot win marks the shortest run for the jackpot since August 2023.

At the time, a ticket in Florida matched all winning numbers, taking down the top prize of $39m only two drawings after another player in Florida took down the game's record $1.6bn jackpot.

Sadly, the $39m jackpot hit in August 2023 wasn't claimed.

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