1 ticket wins $189 million in Mega Millions

Mega Millions has its biggest winner in a year and a half.

A ticket sold in Maryland hit Tuesday night's jackpot, worth $189 million as an annuity, about $126 million for the cash. Less taxes, of course.

New Jersey sold one of the six tickets that matched all the numbers but the Mega Ball. The Jersey ticket, which won the usual $250,000, was sold in Monmouth County at Howell Bowling, 1002 Route 9 South, in Howell.

The jackpot had been growing since the end of July.

In May, Mega Millions had a bigger jackpot -- $198 million -- but the two winning tickets were entitled to half. One was claimed by Joe Garofalo of Tinton Falls, N.J. The other half, won in Farmville, Va., has yet to be claimed.

Those two jackpots were the biggest since Mega Millions set the all-time U.S. jackpot record of $656 million in March 2012.

The jackpot reverts to $12 million for Friday's drawing, with a lump-sum payout of $8 million.

Tonight's Powerball jackpot is worth $70 million for the annuity, $40.1 million for the cash.

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For more, see Philly.com's lottery page, or the Mega Millions and Powerball websites.

Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com.