Mega Millions Winning Ticket Sold on Long Island, New York, for $425 Million Jackpot

It was a very happy new year for someone. 

A single winning ticket was sold in New York for New Year's Day's massive Mega Millions $425 million jackpot. 

The ticket was sold on Long Island at Brookville Auto Service in the Town of Oyster Bay and the winning numbers were 57, 70, 34, 62, 44 and a Mega Ball of 14, according to the New York Lottery.

The prize was the eighth largest in the history of the game. There has only been one other winner on Jan. 1, back in 2008. 

Tuesday's win comes on the heels of last October's record $1.5 billion jackpot win, which no one has stepped forward to claim yet. The person or persons who bought the winning ticket at the KC Mart in Simpsonville, South Carolina, have 180 days from the Oct. 23 drawing to claim their prize: a nearly $900 million lump-sum payout. 

The cash option for the Jan. 1 drawing is about $254.6 million, according to Mega Millions. 

Why have so many Mega Millions jackpots swelled to such vast amounts of late? It has to do with a recent tweak to the game's rules, according to The Washington Post. The change makes winning the jackpot far less likely, allowing the pot to grow exponentially. 

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