Michigan Lottery Player Wins $1 Billion Mega Millions Jackpot

RELEASE DATE: 1/23/2021

A Michigan Lottery player has won the third-largest lottery prize in history, the $1 billion Mega Millions jackpot.

The lucky player’s winning ticket matched all of the numbers drawn Friday night – 04-26-42-50-60 – and the Mega Ball 24. The winning ticket was bought at Kroger, located at 47650 Grand River Avenue in Novi. The Michigan Lottery won’t know the identity of the winner until that person contacts the Lottery.

Friday night’s drawing was the 37th Mega Millions drawing since a $120 million jackpot was won Sept. 15 in Wisconsin.

The winner will have two options to collect the record prize. The first is an escalating annuity that offers an initial payment, then annual payments for 29 years. The player also may select a one-time cash payment of about $739 million. If a player selects the cash option, they will receive about $530 million after tax withholdings.

Friday night’s Mega Millions jackpot is the third-largest lottery jackpot ever won in the United States. The national and world record for a lottery jackpot is $1.586 billion. That Powerball jackpot was won on Jan. 13, 2016, and split between three winning tickets (California, Florida, and Tennessee).

Until Friday night’s big win, the largest Lottery prize ever won by a Michigan player was a $337 million Powerball jackpot. Donald Lawson, of Lapeer, won that jackpot on Aug. 15, 2012. The largest Mega Millions prize ever won in the state was won on April 22, 2005. A Port Huron couple, Ralph and Mary Stebbins, won $208 million playing Mega Millions.

The last Michigan player to win a Mega Millions jackpot was Kevin Blake, of Waterford. Blake won half of the game’s $42 million jackpot in October 2017. The other winning ticket was purchased in Rhode Island.

The lucky winner of the jackpot should contact the Lottery’s Public Relations Division at 517-373-1237 to set up an appointment to claim their prize.

Mega Millions drawings take place each Tuesday and Friday evening. Each Mega Millions play is only $2. For an additional $1 per play, players have the opportunity to add a “Megaplier” that can multiply non-jackpot prizes by up to five times. Mega Millions tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Mega Millions tickets for may be purchased online at MichiganLottery.com and at the Lottery’s 10,500 retailers around the state until 10:45 p.m. the day of the drawing.

Media Contact: Michigan Lottery Public Relations office, (517) 373-1237