Twenty lottery players in New Jersey won $10,000 or more last week playing Powerball, Mega Millions and New Jersey Lottery games.

A New Jersey lottery player closed out the year with a bang by winning $1 million in the Mega Millions drawing on Tuesday.

A Mercer County resident became the first big winner of the year in New Jersey after claiming a $1 million prize in the Mega Millions drawing

There were nearly 500 lottery players who won at least $10,000 in prizes last year - at least one in every county in the state.

The sole winner of a $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot has begun the process of collecting the prize, the New Jersey Lottery said Monday.

“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.

A lucky New Jersey lottery player won the $150,000 Jersey Cash 5 jackpot Friday night. The New Jersey Lottery announced Monday that a Essex County ticket matched the five numbers to win. The winning ticket was sold at One Stop Supermarket on Main Street in Orange.

It was another lucky week for New Jersey Lottery winners. This week saw 20 people take home at least $10,000 in prizes. One winner was from our area. A $1,000,000 Ultimate Spectacular ticket won $10,000 after it was sold at Plaza Convenience in Neptune.