Los Angeles, Jan 30 (AP) A single ticket sold in Southern California matched all six numbers and was the lucky winner of the USD 426 million Mega Millions jackpot prize.

The winning numbers drawn Friday night were 3, 16, 25, 44 and 55. The Mega ball was 13, the California State Lottery said.

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The winning ticket was sold at a Chevron gas station in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles.

The winner is yet to be known. Lottery officials say the ticket holder has one year to come forward. They'll have the choice of taking a lump sum payment of approximately USD 293 million (before federal taxes), or the entire jackpot amount in graduated payments over 29 years.

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“It's always exciting when we have a winning ticket with such a big jackpot in California," said Alva V. Johnson, director of the California State Lottery.

“What makes it particularly meaningful is that California's public schools are also a big winner! Raising money for education is why the Lottery exists in the first place, and we take a lot of pride in that.”

The jackpot was advertised as USD 421 million, but skyrocketing sales lifted the the total to USD 426 million. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)