'Star Wars' fan in Massachusetts wins $5.37M lottery jackpot on May the 4th

A Northborough, Massachusetts, resident has won $5.37 million after playing the lottery on May 4, the unofficial "Star Wars Day."

James Jorgensen was elated to win the big money prize from the Massachusetts State Lottery’s Megabucks game, and even more thrilled because of the date's cultural significance.

"The best thing is I’m a huge ‘Star Wars’ fan, so I was all decked out in a ‘Star Wars’ hat and ‘Star Wars’ shirt, and I won on May 4th, which is an unofficial 'Star Wars' holiday," Jorgensen told lottery officials.

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Jorgensen and his partner, Jennifer, visited the Massachusetts Lottery headquarters in Dorchester to pick up the winnings, the Massachusetts Lottery's press release said.

Jorgensen opted to receive the earnings as a one-time-payment, before taxes, of $3,609,886, the release said.

He intends to use the prize money to purchase a home and pay for his children's college tuition costs, he said.

The winning ticket was purchased at Lowe’s Variety Market and Meat Shop at 255 West Main Street in Northborough, according to the Massachusetts Lottery.

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The retailer will also receive a bonus of $50,000 for the sale of the grand prize ticket.

The Megabucks game was redesigned in Nov. 2023 and, since the relaunch, Jorgensen is the second jackpot winner.

The redesign was brought about in hopes of "[bringing] more value to players, with better odds of winning, a higher average jackpot, and double the winnings for all non-jackpot prize tiers," lottery officials reported.

"By reducing the numbers to choose from in the game from 49 to 44, the odds of winning the jackpot and all other prize tiers improved significantly."

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The odds of winning the jackpot improved from 1 in 13,983,826 to 1 in 7,059,052.

The Massachusetts Lottery has generated over $149 billion in revenue since it was founded in 1972, the lottery's website said.

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Since selling its first ticket, the 52-year-old lottery organization has "awarded over $105 billion in prizes [and] returned over $32 billion in net profit to the Commonwealth for unrestricted local aid provided to cities and towns."

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