Single Florida Ticket Wins $800 Million Mega Millions Jackpot

A single ticket sold in Florida matched all six numbers in the July 28 Mega Millions drawing to win an estimated $800 million, the largest jackpot the game has produced in 2026.

Mega Millions ranks the prize 10th largest in its history and puts the cash option at $344.2 million before taxes. Lottery officials have not said where the ticket was sold.

That total sits close to what the game's operators promised when they rebuilt it. Mega Millions raised its ticket price to $5 in April 2025 and projected the average winning jackpot would top $800 million, against roughly $450 million under the old format.

Florida's Tax Code Lifts the Winner's Take

The winner chooses between 30 annual payments and the lump sum. Forbes calculated that the top federal rate of 37% would leave roughly $216.8 million of the cash option.

Florida charges no state income tax and no separate tax on lottery winnings.

A jackpot winner who takes the cash option must claim it within 60 days of the draw date, according to the Florida Lottery's winner's guide. The prize itself must be claimed within 180 days. Names of winners of $250,000 or more stay exempt from public disclosure for 90 days after a claim.

New Game Math Produces a Faster Jackpot

The jackpot rolled for 38 drawings after an Ohio win on March 17. The 2025 overhaul removed one gold Mega Ball, improving jackpot odds to 1 in 290,472,336 from 1 in 302,575,350, and it attached a random 2X to 10X multiplier to every non-jackpot prize.

"Jackpots are expected to grow faster and get to higher dollar amounts more frequently."

The Mega Millions Consortium, the state lotteries that run the game, made that projection in March 2025.

The drawing produced 645,993 winning tickets in all, including $5 million and $3 million match-five prizes in Illinois and New York. FairGambling covered the UK's Powerball launch earlier in July.

The jackpot now resets to $50 million for the July 31 drawing. Multistate rules keep the Florida winner's money unavailable until 15 days after the draw.