A Mega Millions playslip for those players preferring to choose the numbers they want to play is among the stacks of other lottery game playslips on display at a Smoker Friendly store, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021, in Cranberry Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
By Ed White
Someone in Michigan bought the winning ticket for the $1.05 billion Mega Millions jackpot, which is the third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.
The winning numbers for Friday night’s drawing were 4, 26, 42, 50, and 60, with a Mega Ball of 24. The winning ticket was purchased at a Kroger store in the Detroit suburb of Novi, the Michigan Lottery said.
“Someone in Michigan woke up to life-changing news this morning, and Kroger Michigan congratulates the newest Michigan multimillionaire,” said Rachel Hurst, a regional spokeswoman for the grocery chain. She declined to comment further.
The Mega Millions top prize had been growing since Sept. 15, when a winning ticket was sold in Wisconsin. The lottery's next estimated jackpot is $20 million.
Friday night's drawing came just two days after a ticket sold in Maryland matched all six numbers drawn and won a $731.1 million Powerball jackpot.
The jackpot figures refer to amounts if a winner opts for an annuity, paid in 30 annual installments. Most winners choose a cash prize, which for the Mega Millions game would be $776.6 million before taxes and $557 million after taxes, Michigan Lottery spokesman Jake Harris said.
“No way!” Ryan Gabrielli told The Detroit News after shopping Saturday at the lucky Kroger. “We meant to play the lottery but forgot to.”
Harris said the ticket holder should sign the back and keep it in a safe place.
“I wouldn't be surprised if the winning ticket holder held onto that ticket for a little bit, got their affairs in order, put together a financial plan, and then reached out to contact us,” he said.
Only two lottery prizes in the U.S. have been larger than Friday's jackpot. Three tickets for a $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot were sold in January 2016, and one winning ticket sold for a $1.537 billion Mega Millions jackpot in October 2018.
In Grosse Ile, a suburb south of Detroit, 126 people bought more than 600 tickets for the Friday drawing but didn't win the jackpot. They hoped to win enough money to replace a publicly owned bridge on their island in the Detroit River that has been closed indefinitely for major repairs. The only other transportation option for the island's 10,000 residents is a privately owned toll bridge.
“We used this to lift our spirits and dream a little bit,” said organizer Kyle de Beausset. “Of course we're open to any help with the bridge, but I can't imagine the winner would want to finance it.”
The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot were incredibly steep, at one in 302.5 million.
The game is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
___
Associated Press writer Julie Walker in New York City contributed to this report.
Biden wants the ultra-rich to close the deficit in his new budget proposal, a judge rules Trump's aide must turn over election emails, and Chrome users need to do an update. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Tuesday, March 29, 2022.
Marjorie Margolies, an Emmy-winning journalist and former Congressperson, was on assignment as a reporter in South Korea in 1970 when she adopted 7-year-old Lee Heh. She was the first American ever to adopt a child from another country while unmarried. Cheddar News sat down with Margolies, and her son Vu Pham, as she recounted her story.
A recent survey from tech giant HP shows that while women are very interested in advancing their careers, men are still promoted at a much higher rate. Managing Director of North America at HP Stephanie Dismore joined Cheddar News to discuss the data and how changes brought on by the pandemic helped — and hurt — women in the workforce. "This whole idea of hybrid working is a challenge, but it's also an opportunity. And ideally what it can do for women is provide extreme flexibility, and it gives them an opportunity to really be very vocal about what they need and how they can contribute the best in the environment that they're in," she said. "However, at the same time, while women are applying and wanting to advance their careers. COVID actually had the reverse effect. And if you look at other studies, one in four women actually took a step back from their careers or exited the workforce altogether."
Marshall Mayer, the co-founder of the Let's Buy an Island crowdsourcing campaign, joined Cheddar News to discuss purchasing of the Coffee Caye Island off the coast of Belize, building it into its own micronation, and what challenges he's faced in this process. "First of all we recognize where we are. We know we're in Belize, we're not, you know, we have no ambitions beyond the fun of this project," he said. "When it comes to actually creating this sort of thing, most of the people that started this project myself included are dedicated world travelers. We love going to sort of the unique and strange around the world and getting to know interesting cultures and interesting areas."
The hit show 'Snowfall' about the cocaine epidemic in 1980s Los Angeles returned for a fifth season in February, and Angela Lewis, who plays Aunt Louie on the show, joined Cheddar News to talk about the love that she has received for her role and her approach towards it. "I think the biggest thing that I do is I have to be confident," she said. "You cannot play a character like Louie without — you can't play her shrinking away from anything. You can't play her being insecure about whatever it is you might be insecure about." Lewis also touched on her advocacy for Black maternal health that had been sparked by her own pregnancy.
