(Reuters) – A single winning ticket for a Mega Millions lottery jackpot of $1.05 billion, the third-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, was sold at a supermarket in a suburb of Detroit, lottery organizers said on Saturday.
The holder of the winning ticket, which would have cost $2 to buy, had yet to contact the lottery as of Saturday morning following Friday night’s draw, Mega Millions said in its statement. The ticket was bought at a Kroger supermarket in Novi, Michigan, the statement said.
The winner can opt to receive the jackpot in annual payouts over 29 years, though 24% must be given in taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, or ask instead for a one-time cash payout of $739, receiving $530 million after taxes.
The jackpot grew over four months after 36 previous draws produced no winner.
The largest ever lottery jackpot was the $1.586 billion amassed in January 2016 in Powerball, the country’s other multi-state lottery.
In October 2018, the Mega Millions jackpot reached $1.537 billion.
Mega Millions tickets are sold in grocery stores and gas stations in 45 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, which split the proceeds.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; editing by Diane Craft)
