The lucky ticket was bought at a Central Jersey card store
While the nearly half-billon dollar Powerball drawing generated far more attention over the weekend, the much-smaller Mega Millions jackpot produced a big winner in New Jersey.
A ticket sold at The Gift Horse -- a card store on Stelton Road in Piscataway -- matched five numbers but not the Mega Ball. The second prize payout is normally $1 million but the player spend an extra $1 to exercise the Megaplier option. Since the Megaplier on Friday night was 5X (the highest possible) -- the lucky ticket holder wins $5 million.
The winning numbers were 11, 16, 19, 31 and 48. The Mega Ball, which the New Jersey ticket didn't have, was 4. No one hit the Mega Millions jackpot, pushing Tuesday's top prize to $25 million.
There were no other second-prize tickets sold across the country. The odds of a Mega Millions ticket being worth at least $1 million are 18,492,204 to 1.
A ticket sold in New Hampshire hit the $478 million Powerball jackpot -- the eighth-largest in the U.S. lottery history.
Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.