Lucky New Jersey Mega Millions player takes out mammoth $1.12BILLION jackpot - the fifth biggest score in lottery's history

A lottery player struck the $1.12 billion Mega Millions jackpot in New Jersey on Tuesday night. 

The lucky winner, from Bayonne, broke a winless streak that created a rollover of the top prize since December 8.  

The magic numbers were: 7, 11, 22, 29, 38 and 4. 

The charmed punter, who has not yet been named, beat the odds of 1 in 302.6 million to claim the top prize. 

The recipient can claim the 8th largest lottery prize in US history for the full $1.12 billion by annuity, spread over 30 years or take a lump cash payment of $537.5 million.

A lottery player struck the $1.12 billion Mega Millions jackpot in New Jersey on Tuesday night 

The findings come as Wednesday's Powerball Jackpot drawing ballooned to $865 million while a $1.1. billion Mega Millions prize drawing will happen tonight - the eighth largest prize in US history

The winner may be able to shirk the limelight of their newfound wealth as New Jersey is one of 16 states where lottery winners are allowed to stay anonymous. 

Mega Millions is played in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

However, a new study found that Delaware has the highest proportion of lottery winners of any US state.

Lottery Geeks analyzed the number of Powerball and Mega Millions winners in every state across the US and compared it with their overall population. The study did not assess whether those states happened to have a higher number of lottery players as that data is not available.

Delaware has been home to 10 Powerball winners out of a population of 989,948. It means the state counts 10.10 winners per every 1 million residents.

A new study by Lottery Geeks found the First State has the highest proportion of Powerball winners of any US state

However it has had no Mega Millions winners - bringing its overall proportion of lottery winners down to 5.05 in every million. 

It was followed by New Hampshire which counts 11 Powerball winners against a population of 1,377,529 - or eight winners per million residents. In third place was Rhode Island which boasts a winning rate of 7.29 winners per million people. 

Indiana came in fourth and has the highest number of champions overall, counting 39. It means residents in the state - which has a population of 1,097,379 - have a 5.75 in one million chance of hitting the jackpot.

The top ten was rounded out by: Missouri, Nebraska, West Virginia, Kansas, Minnesota and Kentucky.

The study also looked at which states had been home to any Mega Millions winners. 

Its results showed Indiana and Missouri counted two each while Kansas, Minnesota, Rhode Island and New Hampshire had one. 

The data was sourced from lottery data while population numbers were tracked from the US Census.