South Carolina lottery winner claims record $877 million cash prize

By Steve Gorman

 

A man enters the KC Mart in Simpsonville, South Carolina, U.S. October 24, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Mostoller/Files

 

(Reuters) - The anonymous sole winner of a $1.5 billion U.S. Mega Millions drawing last fall has come forward to claim the jackpot, choosing to collect a record one-time cash sum of more than $877 million, South Carolina's lottery commission said on Monday.

 

The winning Quick Pick Mega Millions ticket for the Oct. 23 drawing was purchased at a KC Mart convenience store in Simpsonville, South Carolina, officials said.

 

The victorious player has opted not to be publicly identified, with lottery officials describing the winner only as a "South Carolinian."

 

But in a fortuitous gesture recounted by lottery officials, the lucky contestant had allowed a fellow customer at the KC Mart to jump ahead in line to buy a ticket just before the winning ticket was sold.

 

"A simple act of kindness led to an amazing outcome," at the commission said in a statement announcing that a winner had come forward.

 

The buyer of the winning ticket beat the odds of 1 in 303 million to win the drawing for a grand prize of $1.537 billion, just short of a word record Powerball jackpot of $1.586 billion in January 2016.

 

But the cash option payment chosen by the South Carolina Mega Millions winner amounts to a lump-sum total of $877,784,124 - the largest jackpot payout to a single winner in U.S. history, the state lottery commission said.

 

The winner could otherwise have elected to accept the full amount of the jackpot paid out in installments over 29 years.

 

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 triumphant Mega Millions contender has retained a New York lawyer, Jason Kurland, who specializes in representing lottery winners, and a news conference is to be held following completion of the payment process in the near future, the commission said. Kurland could not immediately be reached for comment.

 

In the four days leading up to the drawing, about 370 million of the $2 Mega Millions tickets were sold in 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

In South Carolina, state lawmakers have appropriated more than $5.4 billion in lottery proceeds for education since its inception there in 2002.

 

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Alistair Bell)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-05

 

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

the cash option payment chosen by the South Carolina Mega Millions winner amounts to a lump-sum total of $877,784,124

Somebody is getting a new trailer house...

If the guy who was allowed to jump ahead of him has read this story he'll know it was him. He's just dropped 1.5 billion and has to return to the crappy trailer park and his nagging fat wife who's used up the food stamps.

Suicide time.

2$ tickets, and a chance of 1 in 303 million to win 1.5 billion. The organisers won't get rich.

My calculator almost exploded trying to work out how many baht that is.............

6 minutes ago, topt said:

My calculator almost exploded trying to work out how many baht that is.............

 

Try it with Vietnam  dung and your head will explode as well.

How many Kip is this worth?  Probably all the Kip in Laos.

2 hours ago, car720 said:

This is just not right in so many ways.

This equates to 8870 families worldwide who could have been given 100,000 each.

Very true.

The same crazy jackpot accumulation in other countries to feed/heat up the greed.

And the same time warning about the danger of gambling/game of luck.

Cap the jackpot and make more people happy with 6 or 7 digit wins.

1 hour ago, topt said:

My calculator almost exploded trying to work out how many baht that is.............

Almost 28 trillion (in US terms)

    27,917,247,021 THB

 7,535,953,281,260 Lao Kip (7.5 Quadrillion?)

20,371,944,550,572 Dong

Edited March 5, 20197 yr by KhunBENQ

87 mil to the top 10 wouldve been better. Spread it around a little. ????

A pittance compared to Trump’s tax giveaway to the richest 100.

1 minute ago, CharlieH said:

87 mil to the top 10 wouldve been better. Spread it around a little. ????

87 million USD.

Just about enough for my plans

13 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Almost 28 trillion (in US terms)

    27,917,247,021 THB

 7,535,953,281,260 Lao Kip (7.5 Quadrillion?)

20,371,944,550,572 Dong

   Your conversion rate is probably close but in US terms billion not trillion.  The number you have for Kip and Dong is trillion. 

5 hours ago, stevenl said:

!2$ tickets, and a chance of 1 in 303 million to win 1.5 billion. The organisers won't get rich.

Then you know nothing about the Lottery in the U.S.!

3 minutes ago, thailand49 said:

Then you know nothing about the Lottery in the U.S.!

I know maths.

A very lucky winner.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

I know maths.

 

Maybe you know maths concerning $2 ticket prices and the odds of winning. But $1 of each ticket sold is used for lottery operation costs but most of the money goes into each state's coffers and used for school funding. There are 2 drawings every week with the jackpot rolling over to the next drawing until it is won. Most of the states participating also collect state income taxes from the winning ticket holder. I guess you didn't read the last sentence of the post about how much money S. Carolina has received in lottery proceeds since initiating lottery sales. 

6 minutes ago, tweedledee2 said:

 

Maybe you know maths concerning $2 ticket prices and the odds of winning. But $1 of each ticket sold is used for lottery operation costs but most of the money goes into each state's coffers and used for school funding. There are 2 drawings every week with the jackpot rolling over to the next drawing until it is won. Most of the states participating also collect state income taxes from the winning ticket holder. I guess you didn't read the last sentence of the post about how much money S. Carolina has received in lottery proceeds since initiating lottery sales. 

A tax on stupidity.

1 hour ago, tweedledee2 said:

 

Maybe you know maths concerning $2 ticket prices and the odds of winning. But $1 of each ticket sold is used for lottery operation costs but most of the money goes into each state's coffers and used for school funding. There are 2 drawings every week with the jackpot rolling over to the next drawing until it is won. Most of the states participating also collect state income taxes from the winning ticket holder. I guess you didn't read the last sentence of the post about how much money S. Carolina has received in lottery proceeds since initiating lottery sales. 

As I said, 2 dollar tickets with a 1 in 303 million chance of winning 1.5 billion doesn't make sense. Apparently even less since only 1 dollar flows back to the lottery. 

The amount of people saying the prize should be lower don't get what the lottery is/does. They would sell a small percentage of the tickets they did if it was a communist enterprise that was limited to winning a few million.

 

It is a great way for the government to take money right out of the hands of the poorest segment of society and give it to the government to spend "wisely". These tickets aren't so bad but the scratch off things are like crack cocaine.  

 

This guy I see every few days at the corner shop is always buying these things. He always says he does it so he can retire early. I just shake my head thinking imagine if he would have invested his money that he spent every week on real investments. Oh well you can't fix stupid. 

 

Also $877 is going to be taxed so $1.5 billion in reality is $500 million give or take. It's still a lot of money but the government is the real winner. So all the people saying spread the money around can relax. The government uses the money to fund projects that people wouldn't personally fund. It takes that tiny tiny chance of a person becoming rich personally to offer that $1-$10 dollars to help build that school for their kids. 

 

Never mind that same person probably voted against the tax levy on the ballot for the school.

 

 

Edited March 5, 20197 yr by Cryingdick

6 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

A pittance compared to Trump’s tax giveaway to the richest 100.

I dont know what Trump has to do with this thread...please keep your ridiculous outbursts in the appropriate thread....this is about one persons remarkable good fortune.

 

I was reading an article on what lottery winers are advised to do before they step forward t claim their money.....basically take steps to preserve their anonymity, hire multiple lawyers, financial planners, possibly set up estate planning etc etc. Very interesting

Edited March 5, 20197 yr by JHolmesJr

32 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

The amount of people saying the prize should be lower don't get what the lottery is/does. They would sell a small percentage of the tickets they did if it was a communist enterprise that was limited to winning a few million.

 

It is a great way for the government to take money right out of the hands of the poorest segment of society and give it to the government to spend "wisely". These tickets aren't so bad but the scratch off things are like crack cocaine.  

 

This guy I see every few days at the corner shop is always buying these things. He always says he does it so he can retire early. I just shake my head thinking imagine if he would have invested his money that he spent every week on real investments. Oh well you can't fix stupid. 

 

Also $877 is going to be taxed so $1.5 billion in reality is $500 million give or take. It's still a lot of money but the government is the real winner. So all the people saying spread the money around can relax. The government uses the money to fund projects that people wouldn't personally fund. It takes that tiny tiny chance of a person becoming rich personally to offer that $1-$10 dollars to help build that school for their kids. 

 

Never mind that same person probably voted against the tax levy on the ballot for the school.

 

 

Like I say, a tax on stupidity.

 

 

10 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Almost 28 trillion (in US terms)

    27,917,247,021 THB

 7,535,953,281,260 Lao Kip (7.5 Quadrillion?)

20,371,944,550,572 Dong

28 billion baht, not trillion.

17 hours ago, webfact said:

$877 million

Wow, that's almost enough to buy a Range Rover!  

 

 

Thats nice. I have won many times.

Gimme gimme....how to hide it??