One ticket wins $1B Mega Millions jackpot

By Marvin Clemons Las Vegas Review-Journal

3 years ago

A patron, who did not want to give her name, shows the ticket she had just bought for the Mega ... — A patron, who did not want to give her name, shows the ticket she had just bought for the Mega Millions lottery drawing at the lottery ticket vending kiosk in a Smoker Friendly store, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021, in Cranberry Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

The Friday, Jan. 22, 2021, jackpot for Mega Millions will be $970 million, Valerie Simpson of Las Vegas, right, and Tonya Hayes of Pahrump line up to buy Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets at the Primm Valley Lotto Store just across the California state line near Primm Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto

People line up to buy Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets at the Primm Valley Lotto Store just across the California state line near Primm on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto

People line up to buy Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets at the Primm Valley Lotto Store just across the California state line near Primm Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto

One ticket hit the Mega Millions jackpot Friday night for a $1 billion jackpot.

The winning ticket was sold in Michigan, officials said. Friday’s numbers were: 4-26-42-50-60 and the Mega Ball was 24.

The closest store near the Las Vegas Valley selling lottery tickets is the Primm Valley Lotto Store on the Nevada-California border. The store is about 45 miles southwest of Las Vegas along Interstate 15.

Lottery fever has been a month-long event at the Primm Valley Lotto store where people have braved cold weather recently to wait in line for hours for a chance to win a fortune.

The record Mega Millions jackpot is $1.537 billion on Oct. 23, 2018.

The odds of winning Mega Millions were 1 in 312 million.

Nevada joins Utah, Alabama, Alaska and Hawaii in not offering Mega Millions or Powerball.

Powerball winner in Maryland

The latest jackpot-winning Powerball ticket, worth $731.1 million, was sold in a struggling coal mining town whose biggest previous claim to fame was being the hometown of baseball Hall of Famer Lefty Grove.

Someone bought it at Coney Market, a convenience store in the Allegany County town of Lonaconing, the Maryland Lottery announced on Thursday. The store will get a $100,000 bonus for selling the ticket to the fifth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.

The largest Powerball jackpot was $1.586 billion on Jan. 13, 2016. There were three winners, one each in California, Florida and Tennessee.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter.