Lebanon, Maine — where the winning Mega Millions lottery ticket was sold — is a small town for ‘woodsy introverts’ with just over 6,000 residents near New Hampshire

• Maine simply offered its first successful Mega Hundreds of thousands ticket for a whopping $1.35 billion.

• The ticket was offered at a fuel station within the small city of Lebanon.

• “It’s best to stay right here in case you are a retiree or on the lookout for a spot to get away from society,” a former resident mentioned.

A fuel station in Lebanon, Maine, offered the successful $1.35 billion Mega Hundreds of thousands ticket on Friday, the primary ever offered within the state and the fourth largest jackpot in US historical past.

Whereas the winner has but to be recognized, the small city of Lebanon  — on the border of Maine and New Hampshire and residential to simply over 6,400 residents, per the 2020 census — finds itself in an unfamiliar highlight.

Based on Area of interest, an internet site that gives analysis on potential locations to stay and work, Lebanon is basically a mixture of suburban and rural areas, and one former resident mentioned it is best often called a “place for woodsy introverts.”

“There’s not a lot round, however it’s a quiet little city in Maine,” they wrote on the location. “It’s best to stay right here in case you are a retiree or on the lookout for a spot to get away from society”

Past the city itself, Lebanon’s native Hometown Gasoline & Grill, the place the successful ticket was offered, is having a second.

“Lebanon is within the information (for good causes),” the corporate wrote on its Fb web page on Saturday. “Thanks for all of the assist from our prospects. We’re anxiously ready to see whether it is somebody we see recurrently right here on the town that gained a whopping 1.3 BIILLLLION DOLLAS.”

The successful numbers had been 30, 43, 45, 46 and 61, and the gold Mega Ball was 14.

Hometown Gasoline & Grill proprietor Fred Cotreau instructed Fox Enterprise he at first did not imagine his firm actually had offered the ticket when he obtained a name from the Maine State Lottery on Saturday.

“6 o’clock this morning [there was an] Augusta, Maine, ID on my cellphone,” he mentioned. “Originally, I assumed it was a rip-off. I assumed the following factor he was going to ask me for a present card.”

An worker of the fuel station equally expressed disbelief to Fox Enterprise: “I used to be form of like, ‘Is that true?’”

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The jackpot reached $1.35 billion after swelling in measurement for the reason that final win in November 2022, when a Californian scored the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot.

The winnings from the Friday Mega Hundreds of thousands ticket are greater than half of the collective $2.2 billion complete prizes paid out within the 40-year historical past of the Maine Lottery. Before now, the winnings within the state have ranged from 50 cents to $9.1 million, in keeping with the Maine Lottery’s web site.

A complete of 1,250 retailers promote lottery merchandise within the state, and every enterprise receives commissions and bonuses, per the Maine Lottery.

Cotreau instructed Fox Enterprise he is unsure if his firm will obtain any cash for promoting the successful ticket, however regardless he mentioned he “would similar to the winner to be beneficiant with the cashier that offered them the ticket.”

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