$1.13B Mega Millions winner remains a mystery at N.J. store where ticket was sold

so good afternoon we're here at saer shop right down the shore in Neptune New Jersey we're here to announce that this shop right sold the winning ticket for the $1.13 billion MegaMillions drawing last night the largest jackpot ever won in New Jersey when we say anything can happen in New Jersey we mean it this retailer and it's owned by saer shoppr right this is Richard saer owner of and president CEO of s shopright he's here to accept this will'll earn a $30,000 bonus check for selling the only ticket I want to say right now the winning numbers for the Tuesday March 26 drawing were 7 11 22 29 and 38 the gold Mega Ball number was four so I want to share a little bit about the giant jackpot which started rolling on December 12th we had 31 drawings and it was the fifth largest jackpot in mega million's history it was the eighth largest jackpot in United States lottery history this is the 28th time that New Jersey has won a Mega Million jackpot players in New Jersey love playing Mega Millions I've been the director of the New Jersey Lottery for over five years and I've met four people that have won a Powerball or a Mega Millions jackpot I've met a couple of people that won more than hundred million from the New Jersey Lottery that's extraordinary and during Governor Phil Murphy's Administration we've had a total of six winners of Powerball or Mega millon so that's a great run for the state of New Jersey this game has been great to our players it's been great to the state it's been great to our retailers like Mr Sher and Sher shoppr right the New Jersey Lottery has 6,800 retailers operating throughout the state they're the face of the New Jersey Lottery they're selling our tickets every day we appreciate our retailers that's why we have a bonus check when they sell a winning ticket they earn commissions many of them are small businesses many of them are big businesses but we work with all of our retailers and we love the help that they give to the New Jersey Lottery this is the first time that mean Millions has been won in 20124 there were 10 winners in 2023 the last Mega Millions jackpot was won on December 8th and it was a $394 million prize was shared in California we encourage en everyone to check their tickets but especially if you live in Neptune or if you live around Neptune I used to live in Neptune I live right down the street right now in Mammoth County so I'm terribly excited for winners in Mammoth County I'm terribly excited for winners in Neptune if you live in Neptune check your ticket don't forget if you didn't buy your ticket at Sac shop right in Neptune you still should check your ticket because there's tons of other prizes that come with mega Mega Millions we had more than 20 people last year win more a million dollars on a second tier prize for Mega Millions so there's lots of opportunities always check those tickets so now I want to take an opportunity and talk directly to the winner I don't know who the winner is we have a gaming system that tells us that the ticket was sold at the shop right in Neptune so we know where it was sold and when it was sold but we don't know who it was sold to I'm looking forward to meeting that winner I'm looking forward to meeting you if you are the winner I encourage you right now sign the back of the ticket take a picture of it make a copy of it and put it in a safe place tell only your closest loved ones that you were this lucky winner and then I would urge you go out and talk to a lawyer and maybe a financial adviser talk to someone that's a professional about what to do with your new found wealth and how to handle it those people can help you we've got a Winner's Guide that you can find on the New Jersey Lottery website it tells anybody that's won a large prize from the New Jersey Lottery what to do with new found wealth it's I think it's a great resource it's helpful nobody is used to going from being a regular person to a millionaire or 100 millionaire overnight take a look at our Winter's guide who talks about simple things like talking to a lawyer talking to an accountant that there might be tax implications that you might want to talk to a financial adviser if you've won millions of dollars so the question in everybody's mind is do we know who the winner is and we don't I just said that we don't know who the winner is we haven't heard from them we want to remind the winner and everyone here that uh the law in New Jersey says that winners of the lottery can remain anonymous so we might not ever I I'll know hopefully we'll have that ticket claim I'll know who won the lottery but we can't tell the press and the public who won that ticket um identity of winners is not allowed for inspection under the open public records Act players winning uh prizes of $600 or more have to provide winning uh identification to the lottery so we can properly process your claim but your identity does not become public and that's important to know so it brings me to the reason why we're here today I have the pleasure of presenting a ceremonial big check in the amount of $30,000 to Richard saer CEO of sop right we're excited for this this is a so we're thrilled to do this this is one of the best things that I get to do as a lottery director is meet people that own the businesses in New Jersey and talk to them greet them and thank them for the work that they do for us so so Mr saer thank you so much congratulations on selling this winning ticket I told Mr Sher when I got in here I used to shop here all the time this is a great store the liquor store is great you can get anything in the back I love this shop right I love shopping at Shop Right I get lunch there all the time so congratulations and I'm going to open the podium to Mr saer now so we're we at shoppr right are really thrilled for the winter we're thrilled for the state of New Jersey we're thrilled for this community Neptune the mayor of Neptune is here actually her niece uh sold the winning ticket last night we don't know who the winner is but she sold the winning paper and uh I'm very proud to accept this commission check and on behalf of shoppr Partners in paring which is a program that started in 1999 where we've donated up to $60 million at this point to Partners in caring to all the local food banks uh to soup kitchens throughout the state of New Jersey this check is going to go to uh and by the way there's a John B Soul Foundation uh where they have uh the two uh kitchens in Tom jerber and and in Red Bank so the money is going to go to them through Partners in caring and uh this check will go directly to fulfill which is the local food bank that is right up the street for Monthan Ocean County and uh I'm sure that the food bank is really going to appreciate this donation so thank you very much to the Lottery Commission thank you to the state of New Jersey um it's an amazing thing when you think about how lucky we are to be the store that sold this ticket it's one in 302 million that's the uh the chance of winning this lottery so thank you all everyone appreciate it Jim thank you thank you very much Mr saer we appreciate it at this time I'd like to introduce mayor tassy York of Neptune uh I was excited to call up mayor York this morning at 8:00 and I said how do I not sound uh like a telemarketer when I call up and say hey it's Jim Carrey from the New Jersey Lottery I've never spoken to you before but I'd like to introduce Miss York right now and say come on over and say a few words good morning everyone we are thoroughly excited here in Neptune even if you are not a neptunian you came to Neptune to buy your ticket and we just want to say thank you for visiting this shop right as I explained to Mr Shaker um I'm three generations in with this shop right um my mother my mother's mother we all shopped here so it is incredible it is just incredible to know that this is the place and in my term my term I get to celebrate someone winning a billion dollars with my niece T tyana come on up she is the one who pulled the winning ticket and I'm so proud of her I just wish it would have been my ticket but we know how it is but I just want to congratulate you again um I I want to say to you the same as the lottery person did please make sure you take care of what you need to take care of um do what you need to do and enjoy it just enjoy it enjoy it take care thank you so I want to thank Mary York I want to thank sa shopright rich saer and the sacred family many of whom are behind me right now for having us here today it was a great turnout from all the press and the media uh we love doing this it's it's one of the best parts of my job uh talking about Big Winners and and it was terribly exciting uh this morning to find out we had this big winner so at this time uh if we have any questions or if anyone would like to talk um we're happy to talk with you right now but we'll take questions if there are any yes sir can you tell if the ticket was a one off or like five onone ticket can you tell if it was a quick pick or actually chosen number the answer is uh it was not a quick pick it was chosen numbers and it was a one board ticket so that one pick this is Mr plow manager of norstar New Jersey the lottery sales and marketing vendor Adam any other [Music] questions come on hello exting was it for you when you found out oh very exciting I was very happy that I was able to sell a ticket in my hometown so that was amazing and um congratulations to whoever the person is do you see regulars come in time and do you have any in I do see regulars come in but I do not know last night there were so many people that came through I cannot remember people like talking like this going to win yeah they always say like you know you're the lucky one and I'm going to win get a ticket I'm going to win and here somebody won it's crazy thank you thank you I'm still convinced I'm going to win the lottery and I can't play so that's a problem uh any other questions how's it feel just to have this in the great state of New Jersey this is not our first time but it's terribly exciting for us the New Jersey Lottery is such an important part of the state it's an important part of the state's finances our brand is great players love us in New Jersey consumers love us in New Jersey and and to have something good happen to us something a really big deal it's just it's great news it's fun and we love it question for Mr Sher um you know a lot of times this happens and the question then outside of the winner is this a ly score or do lightning Sprite the FL what do you have to say to that well right now this is the luckiest shop right in the state of New Jersey that's for sure so yeah this is the biggest win ever in the state of New Jersey so I would say that uh we're really lucky you know and this is listen if I were going to buy another lottery ticket I'd be buying it here [Music] so so the New Jersey Lottery is a part of the New Jersey state pension system we're actually an asset within the state pension system so New Jersey Lottery proceeds and our profits go to benefit the state pension system overwhelmingly that means that the profits of the New Jersey Lottery go to benefit the pensions of teachers who have worked and served us in the state of New Jersey for their entire careers so it's part of our mission to to assist with education and it's something that we're very proud of my mother's a retired teacher that's an important thing it's part of what we promis teachers and and that is where the money goes to New Jersey so so last year our profits were $1.1 billion we've had every year that I have been the director the profits have been over a billion dollars so that's exciting New Jersey had underfunded our pensions for many years and so the fact that the New Jersey lotteries are part of the pension system is crucial to the state's finances now and that's an important part I know that sales for yesterday in New Jersey were over $9 million on megga Millions uh and and it basically megail Millions operates like a 5050 so about 50% of that goes to the prizes and that includes not just the top billion dollar prize but million dooll prizes that might be one in the state and we didn't have a million-dollar winner last night but also people that got a $2 winner so half goes to fund prizes and half goes back to the state and about 30 to 40% of the total revenue is used to be part of our profit and to support the state pension system we also have the cost of operating the New Jersey Lottery and that's part of where our money goes as well is it automatic that it's a cash payout or can you tell if they chose annuity so you can win a Mega Millions prize in two ways you can win a you can select the cash option which was approximately $530 million or you can select the annuity option my understanding is that the player in this case selected the annuity option which means that they can receive their payments over 30 years I think that they start at $16 million a year in year one and they increase 5% a year for 30 years with the last payment being about $69 million now most people not most everybody that I know and I actually know people that have won Megamillions or Powerball they always select the cash option and a player that comes in and realizes hey I won the lottery they can decide right now they can talk to their lawyer talk to their financial adviser and decide I want to keep that annuity or I'm going to take the cash option and if they decide to change their mind and select the cash option we'll do that for them and we'll work with them to give them the cash option you get the a higher amount of each show yeah you will get a billion dollars paid out over 30 years you get $530 million paid out immediately if you choose the cash option any other questions and I'm happy to talk to anyone afterwards as well if if someone chooses the annuity on Mega Millions that is their property and that is their right and they will they or their estate will get all of the money promised as the ano all right thank you very much we appreciate everyone here thank you to saer shopright for this great event any other questions come on over we'll talk to you thank [Applause] you the lottery is real