The $1.05 Billion Michigan Mega Millions Win

The Wolverine FLL Club claimed the only jackpot winning ticket from the January 22, 2021 Mega Millions drawing, a prize advertised at $1.05 billion.

The winning numbers were 4, 26, 42, 50 and 60, with Mega Ball 24. The ticket was sold at the Kroger at 47650 Grand River Avenue in Novi, Michigan.

The claim

The four member lottery club came forward in March 2021. The members did not publicly identify themselves individually, using the Wolverine FLL Club name for the claim.

The club chose the cash option, approximately $776 million before withholding. Contemporary official reporting said the payment was about $557 million after the cited federal and Michigan withholding.

Those figures describe the tax treatment reported with that particular claim. They should not be used as a generic formula for another winner.

The “burned breakfast” story

A widely repeated detail says one of the winners burned breakfast after realizing the ticket might be worth more than $1 billion and then contacted a lottery lawyer.

That anecdote comes from contemporaneous local reporting, not from the official Mega Millions claim announcement. It is best treated as a reported personal detail rather than an independently verified lottery fact.

Why the story still matters

The claim illustrates several practical points that apply after a very large win: secure the ticket, verify the result through the issuing lottery, understand the claim deadline and consider qualified legal and tax advice before making major decisions.

It does not demonstrate a strategy for choosing winning numbers. The ticket won a random drawing, and past winner stories do not make a future jackpot more likely.