Mega Millions Ticket for $1 Billion Jackpot Was Sold in Michigan

The winning ticket for the $ 1 billion jackpot, the third largest lottery prize in US history, was sold at a grocery store in Michigan. According to state lottery officials.

The winning numbers drawn on Friday night were picked by a customer from a Kroger market in Novi, a city of about 60,000 inhabitants 30 miles northwest of Detroit.

State lottery officials said that the identity of the winner will not be known until the person contacts them. State lottery spokesman Jake Harris said Michigan law requires that winners of games played between states, such as the Mega Millions and Powerball, be publicly determined.

The winner can choose to receive the prize through an initial payment followed by 29-year annual payments, or receive a one-off cash payment of approximately $ 739 million. State lottery officials said that in this case the winner will receive approximately $ 530 million after taxes.

If the winner chooses to pay annually, the initial payment will be approximately $ 11.3 million after taxes, and the payments will increase by 5 percent each year. Mr Harris said the final payment would be approximately $ 46.7 million after taxes.

The chance to win the jackpot was 1 in 302,575,350, According to Mega Millions. In the Mega Millions draw, the winning numbers are 4, 26, 42, 50 and 60, and the Mega Ball number is 24.

The numbers were selected two days after they were selected for the numbers. Won tickets in $ 731 million Powerball jackpotIn Lonaconing, an unfortunate former mining town in the northwestern corner of the state battered with the virus, Md. The winning ticket was sold at Coney Market, a grocery store selling submarines and pizza in Lonaconing, a town in Allegany County with a population of about 1,200. the highest number of Covid-19 cases per person in the state. About a quarter of the Lonaconing population lives below the poverty line. according to census data.

A Kroger spokesman congratulated the winner in Michigan, and Novi mayor, Bob Gatt, said the news came a month later. the city was named “the second most innovative city in the country” by Entrepreneur magazine.

He described Novi as a rapidly growing city that was once a rural outpost of Detroit, but now a car manufacturing center that attracts tech companies like Google.

Mr. Gatt said he was “ecstatic” for the winner. “I would be better if I had the winning ticket,” he said.

The jackpot was the second biggest prize in Mega Millions history.

In 2018 Anyone who chooses to remain anonymous earned $ 1.537 billion in South Carolina. This prize remains the world’s largest lottery prize awarded to a single ticket. According to Mega Millions.

The biggest lottery prize awarded to date in the United States was the $ 1.586 billion Powerball jackpot in 2016. According to the Associated Press. He was split between three ticket winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.

An enduring mythology argues that winners of jackpots are cursed after bringing good luck. There is large number of accounts Those who do not have the necessary equipment to manage their newfound wealth are among those who continue to struggle with drugs or alcohol, disrupt relationships and go bankrupt.

While one Effective work in 1978 They found that lottery winners were not happier than their neighbors or more optimistic about the future. other studies opposed the so-called lottery curse concept.

Studies show that the overall psychological well-being of the winners returns over time.

In 2018 A woman from New Hampshire sued For his name not to be made public after he won $ 560 million in Powerball lottery.

The woman’s lawyers, who named her Jane Doe in the case, said she wanted to use some of her earnings for charity “away from the glare and misfortune that falls on other lottery ‘winners”.

A judge allowed to remain anonymous.