The Michigan Lottery said the lucky winner had claimed his prize within weeks of the Jan. 22 drawing, opting for a lump sum payment that turned $776 million in winnings into about $557 million after taxes.
The names of the four members of the Wolverine FLL Club, the Oakland County club that was the only winner of the lottery, were not released; Kurt Panouses, an attorney representing the winners, said the money will affect their children and grandchildren for generations to come and that they will remain humble and give back by making charitable donations in southeast Michigan.
The $1.05 billion is the largest jackpot ever won in the Michigan Lottery and the third largest in the nation; Mega Millions tickets were sold in 45 states across the United States, as well as in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The winning tickets were the last ones sold at the Kroger supermarket, a chain of grocery stores in the Detroit suburb of Novi; Panos said a club member saw a sign saying the jackpot was up to $1 billion and remembered they hadn’t bought it yet, so the four of them went into the Kroger store to buy it together.
Kroger, who sold the jackpot ticket, said he would donate the $50,000 commission to the Michigan Food Bank Council.
Immediately after the drawing, many people guessed that the winner was a group of teachers in the Novi area; Novi Woods Elementary School (Novi Woods Elementary School) principal David Ascher immediately stopped the rumors, saying two days later that everyone had gone to work and he had bought donuts for everyone to eat.
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