Florida ticket wins $800 million Mega Millions jackpot

A single Florida ticket matched all six numbers in Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing to win an estimated $800 million jackpot, the largest lottery prize of 2026 so far and the 10th-largest Mega Millions prize ever. The winning numbers were 34, 48, 49, 59, 70 and Mega Ball 12.

The headline figure only tells part of the story. Mega Millions gives jackpot winners a choice between the annuity and the cash option, and the annuity pays one immediate installment followed by 29 annual payments that rise by 5% each year. The cash option for this prize was listed at $344.2 million, a figure that gives a clearer picture of what the winner can access right away.

Taxes will shrink that sum further. Florida does not tax lottery winnings, but federal withholding still applies, and on a cash payout of $344.2 million the standard 24% withholding would amount to about $82.6 million before any additional federal tax bill is settled. That means the upfront haul would drop to roughly $261.6 million, before the winner makes any longer-term decision about investing, spending or shielding the prize from future claims.

The winner was not immediately named, and the retailer was not pinned down in a single account. One report placed the sale at a Wawa on State Road 70 in Bradenton, while another said the Florida Lottery identified a Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach as the retailer that sold the ticket. Either way, the ticket was the only one in the country to match all six numbers.

The jackpot had built through 37 consecutive drawings without a winner. It had last been claimed in March, when an Illinois ticket won $533 million, a stretch that helped push the prize to an eye-catching level and kept Mega Millions in the national spotlight. When jackpots climb this high, the game’s appeal is not just the fantasy of a life-changing prize. It is the combination of a swollen advertised number, a cash option measured in hundreds of millions, and the public visibility that comes with every rollover.