Mega Millions jackpot is largest lottery jackpot ever at $1.6 billion

Winner could walk away with $650 million

DETROIT – At $1.6 billion, the Mega Millions jackpot is the largest lottery jackpot ever.

The cash option is $904.9 million and after taxes, the winner would walk away with about $650 million. The cash option is the third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.

The Trombley Chene market off I-94 has a long history of big lotto winners, including a million dollar winner in 1999.

Michigan players have already bought more than 3 million Mega Millions tickets for the drawing on Tuesday night. That's an average of more than 120,000 ticket sales per hour, according to Michigan Lottery officials.

Players bought 9.8 million tickets for the drawing on Friday night, when the jackpot was $1 billion. Seven million of those tickets were purchased on the day of the drawing. Jeff Holyfield the director of public relations for the Michigan Lottery, said that's typical.

Tickets will be sold until 10:45 p.m. Tuesday night. Each Mega Millions ticket costs $2. There's a Megaplier option available for another $1. It multiplies all non-jackpot prizes up to five times.


About the Authors:

Jason is Local 4’s utility infielder. In addition to anchoring the morning newscast, he often reports on a variety of stories from the tragic, like the shootings at Michigan State, to the off-beat, like great gas station food.

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.