If the winner is older, the lump sum may be the better choice, Love said. “If you accept the lump sum, you get all the money at one time, you get to invest the money however you want it to be invested, and you’re paying tax at a time when the effective tax rate is the lowest in a generation,” he said.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a news release before the jackpot rose again to $1.22 billion.

After three months without anyone winning the top prize in the lottery, a ticket worth an estimated $1.22 billion was sold in California for the drawing Friday night, according to the Mega Millions website.

A lucky person won the $1.22 billion Mega Millions jackpot after picking the winning numbers at a Cottonwood market.