A Colorado man hit the $3 million jackpot matching all six numbers in the Colorado Lotto+ Jackpot this fall, lottery officials announced Thursday.
Jerold C. of Littleton, Colorado, chose to keep a lump sum cash prize of $1,549,606 after he won the $3,099,214 jackpot in the Oct. 5 drawing. His winning numbers were 9, 16, 20, 26, 27, and 35, according to lottery officials.
The winning ticket was purchased at Winners Corner in Pueblo, a city of about 111,000 people per the 2023 U.S. census.
Officials said Jerold didn’t share his plans with the money.
“He declined to share any more details about himself or plans for his big win, but we’re sure he’s glad he played!” they said.
Colorado+ is the state’s home-grown jackpot game, according to officials. Tickets cost $2, but players can pay $1 to add the plus option, allowing for a chance to win $250,000 in a second drawing immediately after the Colorado+ drawing.
The jackpot starts at $1 million, with drawings on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. So far, the largest jackpot to date occurred in January 2022 which was for $25,000,000, lottery officials said.
They said the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 30 and 1 in 3.84 million for the jackpot.
The recent winner is the fourth in the last four months, with a Coloradan winner from Aspen scoring $5.7 million in July, a Thornton winner winning $1.1 million on Aug. 3, and a Carbondale player winning $1.5 million on Aug. 17.
Ticket Prices to Rise
Changes are on the horizon for the Mega Millions who announced this week a “mega” overhaul to its popular game with larger prizes, better odds, and tickets that are more than twice the price.
In a statement on Monday, officials said tickets will jump from $2 to $5 in April 2025, the second price hike since the game first launched in 2002. The last adjustment was in 2017, when a $40 million starting jackpot was launched.
According to Joshua Johnston, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, the redesigned game is more exciting and will attract more players.
“We are creating a game that both our existing players and people new to Mega Millions will love and get excited about playing,” he said.
Officials said players can also expect more billion-dollar jackpots than ever, faster growing jackpots, a built-in multiplier on every play to boost non-jackpot wins, and no “breakeven” prizes so wins always pay more than the ticket price.