Mega Millions: Anonymous winner of $1.5bn jackpot comes forward months after draw
The sole winner of the Mega Millions $1.5bn jackpot last year has finally came forward to claim his cash prize, according to South Carolina’s lottery commission.
On Monday, officials said the anonymous winner—whom the commission has only described as “South Carolinian”– chose to collect a record-breaking cash sum of more than $877 million. The winning ticket for the Quick Pick Mega Millions drawing on October 23, 2018 was purchased at KC Mart, a convenience store, in Simpsonville, South Carolina.
A small good deed went a long way for the lucky winner. The fortuitous contestant offered a fellow customer at the convenience store to jump ahead of them in line to purchase a ticket right before the winning ticket was sold.
“A simple act of kindness led to an amazing outcome,” the commission said in a statement.
The jackpot winner beat out the odds of 1 in 303 million to win the grand prize drawing of $1.537 billion. The world record for the Powerball jackpot was made in January 2016 for a whopping $1.586 billion.
The winner of the South Carolina Mega Millions lottery has two options to redeem their cash prize: They can either accept the full amount of the jackpot through instalments paid over 29 years or opt for a one-time payment amounting to the lump-sum total of the cash prize.
The South Carolina winner chose the latter to receive the lump-sum total of $877,784,124—the largest jackpot payout to a single winner in American history. However, the state of South Carolina will also collect $61 million in income taxes from the winner.
The KC Mart will also receive a $50,000 cash prize for selling the lucky ticket.
The KC Mart in Simpsonville will receive a $50,000 prize for selling the claimed lucky ticket, and the state of South Carolina stands to collect $61 million in income taxes from the winner.
The anonymous Mega Millions contestant hired Jason Kurland, a New York based lawyer with experience in representing lottery winners, to represent him. A news conference following the payment process is imminent.
Four days before the jackpot drawing, nearly 370 million $2 Mega Millions tickets were sold in the US, including the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands.
South Carolina lawmakers earmarked more than $5.4 billion in lottery proceeds for education since 2002.
